Customer Reviews

Lonely Planet: South India [VHS]

5 star:		(2)
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1 star:		(2)

 

 

This videotape is responsible for taking an hour of my life that I will never get back. The viewer is forced to watch a series of drunk white tourists "do India," and never gets a chance to enjoy the rich culture and beauty that is South India. I am honestly shocked that the Lonely Planet, whose travel guides have helped me tremendously in my travels through Africa and Central America, would put their stamp on such a terrible product. There must be a better resource to help the traveler navigate the natural, cultural and spiritual wonders of the region. This video is trash! Don't waste your money.

Wow, oh wow. This is perhaps one of the best episodes of Lonely Planet.

Justine explores South India, and gives the viewers a chance to really see what it's like. She starts her journey in Madras (in South East India) and eats lunch in restaurant where 3,000 people eat each day. Justine goes to the cinema to experience one of the local films, and later she watches a Hindu parade. Moving west, Justine ends up in an elephant sanctuary in Goa whenre she helps bathe the elephants.

Justine then takes a boat thru some waterways -- for something like pennies a day, and ends up in an Ashram where she get a hug from a mothr figure/guru. And she finally ends up on an island off of the western coast of India. The beaches look amazing.

This episode has been voted as the viewer's #1 favorite on the Travel Channel.

Also note that the VHS tapes of Lonely Planet episodes contain a couple more minutes of footage than the episodes that air on television.

I purchased this video to watch with my extended family at Christmas. My parents, sister and I are from South India, but the inlaws, niece and nephews are all American. I thought this tape might be a nice way to share some images of our country and to spark questions and discussion among the kids. I was thoroughly disappointed and really wished I'd never bought it.

The program has a squeamish, racist and condescending attitude toward India and Indian people. At every location, the peppy hostess speaks almost exclusively to other white tourists, often about what a hopeless mess India is (but still cool to visit when you're "finding yourself" on a budget). When Indians are depicted, it's as tragi-comic relief or chaotic backdrop. The camera stays longer on a shot of cockroaches in a train's sleeper car than it does on the program's single, poorly focussed shot of the great temple at Madurai, a masterpiece of world architecture. To add insult to injury, the photography is substandard and the coverage of "sights" rushed and arbitrary.

South India is a really special place, and this tape does no justice to it whatsoever. India is not America and India is not for everybody. But if you are committed to going there or to learning more about it, please avoid Lonely Planet's ridiculous and insensitive travelogues and take the time required to get a deeper, more balanced and historically contextualized sense of one of what is one of the most ancient, interesting, rich and complex countries in the world.

An excellent way to get a glimpse of South India. A very honest, non-biased presentation.