This is essential viewing for anyone interested in how the Indian subcontinent is emerging as one of the most economically powerful nations of the world, with a GDP which will exceed that of the US within 25 years.
For me this BBC series was the best travel documentary of 2007. Its vision of India, ever-changing, ever-integrating, and with roots right back in the very foundations of humanity is enthralling. Wood’s journey begins at the dawn of the very first human migration out of Africa into the south of India, tracking the prehistoric sounds of these ancient peoples into rituals practised today.
There has been a constant struggle between India’s ancient philosophy of non-violence and tolerance with the evolutional surges caused by various waves of invaders from Alexander the Great to the British. Indeed the modern concept of a single India was created by Romantic Britains, as they built their empire and created the concept of a multinational enterprise on India's wealth.
This series is intricately researched, visually stunning, highly informative and completely accessible.
Historian Michael Wood shows us the wonders of India: the rich diversity of its people, cultures and landscapes and the intense drama of its past.
Filmed over a year, Michael Wood travels clockwise around India taking us to awe-inspiring places, showing us secular and spiritual events, and telling us India's stories and legends in this definitive account of one of the world's oldest civilisations.
