Customer Reviews

The Story of India [Blu-ray]

5 star:		(64)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

I must disclose two items - I am a big fan of Michael Wood and I am of Indian descent. I don't believe either of these color my review but both were my reasons for watching. Michael Wood is to History what Carl Sagan was to Science and Cosmology. His passion and interest in the subject matter may be viewed as overdone by some but I see it as sincere and therefore brings out the same in the audience. He is able to bring the story of 5000 years to life without leaving the present which is quite an accomplishment that has both to do with the filmmakers and India as both country and people.

The program was beautifully filmed and captures the voices of more than just the conventional academics that provide the commentary in many historical documentaries. The episodes on Asoka and Buddha are my favorites but all were easy to watch and taught me some or much that I had not already known. Some critics will call Wood's perspective as viewed through rose colored glasses. I would agree but I think that is by design and not meant to minimize much tragedy and depravity that has also occurred during the 5000 years. There are plenty of other resources that can provide that perspective.

I have seen the first two episodes on PBS and was blown away. Wood is clearly an Indo-phile. You can see by his facial expressions and body language that he is blown away by the intricacies and depth of Indian history and culture.
My favorite part thus far - the fact that spice shops in Peshawar know exactly what Soma is. Soma is the "Rig-Vedic" elixir for the gods. No one in India today probably knows anything about it.
Another thing I really like, as an Indian, is that this is a history of all of India, including parts which are now Pakistan and played an integral role in the development of Indian civilization. The parts about the Indus Valley (Harappa and Mohenjodaro) were awe inspiring - like the earlier reviewer - this is stuff I learnt about in static history books 25 years ago - to see it in moving video was .... moving.

Although I have only seen the first two episodes, this is a wonderful production. I call it an "Eye-Full" because the photography of this production is so wonderful. The six hour series by Michael Wood is filled with verbal information, as well as gorgeous shots of the Indian landscape and towns. It traces the history of the sub-continent from 30,000 years ago to the present, discussing the exploration and settling of the country by the earliest immigrants, and the spread of languages and language groups over the region.
The second hour focused on the impact of religion on the land, including the impact of the Buddha, and the development of human rights on the country and the people.
I have not been back to India since 1983, but the series brought back memories that not only had I forgotten, but that I had forgotten I ever had them in the first place. A very enjoyable and informative series, and I highly recommend it.

I appreciate the effort since not many in India would care to take such documentaries. However, I am not fully satisified with this DVD. Lot more useful information could have been shown in this duration of the documentary instead of several of the stuffs that I felt were really un-necessary. For example, the long search for the SOMA drink and attempting to taste it could have been avoided. Instead they could have spent more time on explaining the content of the Vedas. The Vedas have immense amount of philosophical views, scientifc contents, universal thoughts and indirect historical data embedded that could have all been explained instead of dramatizing how vedas would have been written.

In the Indus Valley episode details such as how Indus cities were planned, the excavated seals, bath houses, indus religion could all have been explained. There were some contradiciting information such as describing that Indus people were traders and used ships and boats to trade with Iraq and later in the episode of spice trade the author tells that Indians were not capable of ship building and just sold goods to merchants from Rome and Greeks.

Another contradiction occurs when Woods travels all the way to Turkmenistan to investiage the roots of Aryans. The Turkmenistan archaelogist concludes that the people who lived there migrated west after rivers dried. Soon after this, Woods gives his conclusion that people from this area migrated further south to Indian subcontinent. Wood explains that there is enough evidence in Rig Veda to show that Aryans came from outside of India, but does not really spell out any direct evidence from Rig Veda itself. He gives just examples like Horse sacrifice, Soma worship to proove that Sanskrit came from outside India, which I felt did not proove his point. He tells that Rig Veda talks about a river in Afghanistan as a proof for foreign origin of Aryans but he fails to talk about the very important river that Rig Veda speaks out so many times - River Saraswati. When he shows proof that Indus Valley existed on a dry river bed using satellite image, why should he not explain the possibility that this is the Saraswati river and Indus Valley is nothing but an extension of the Ancient Vedic Socieity.

I have to say that still not many historians want to explore the possibilty that Aryans could have went out of India at one point in history due to the same climatic change that the author explains here. On their way they could have stayed in Central Asia and migrated further to West Asia and further on. How can we explain the Mittani people of West Asia speaking Sanskrit and following precisely the Vedic gods?

RigVeda talks so much about Saraswati river and we can imagine how ancient RigVeda is if Saraswati River dried up long before 1500BC, the theoretical date that most historians place for migration of Aryans into India. All this could easily point out to the fact that Vedic civilization is indigineous to India and so is it's precious language, Sanskrit. Most western historians would say that this point is very Indo-centric view but the question is why not explore the possibilites...?

The DVD sometimes passes from one era to another without showing concrete data. Sadly, one of the main aspect of India, Hinduism, was not dealt in any detail at all. The essence of Hinduism and its philosphy were not dealt at all. Many of the sophisticated Indian arts such as the Indian classical music and dance forms were not described at all except for few minutes of explanation of Bharatanatyam. The Indian classical music and dance are so much sophisticated and deserve lot more attention.

India's contribution in field of mathematics, science, astronomy and yoga could have been explained in lot more details. More time could have been spent describing how ancient temples were built. India's influence on South East Asia could have been described as well, since there was a tremendous influence by Indian culture on countries such as Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia.

The extensive Indian literature in the fields of mythology, poetry, drama, science, technology, astronomy, mathematics were not dealt clearly, except for considering the major epics.

The first episode (Indus Valley, Vedic age and beginnings of Hinduism) covers the very important and foundation phase of Indian history and must have been more researched and well presented. I found this episode very superficial and still stuck with old faulty western view of Aryan migration into India!

I have to appreciate one thing definitely. I have seen several other programmes on India and none of them deal with South India. Usually it is just as if south India doesnt exist. This DVD does walk through South India a lot. But again, the author missed to show in detail the majestic south Indian temples and the architecture. The camera did not attempt to give a better glimpse of the beautiful temples. There were no mention of the abundant Tamil literature, the sophisticated Carnatic music and details of Bharthanatyam dance. Details of the major tamil kingdoms (except that Cholas were included) and other south Indian kingdoms such as Vijayanagar empire were not included when so much of the DVD goes in detailing foreign kings.

I might have put in lot of expectations in here, but a 6 hour DVD show could have easily been more informative instead of providing some of the unnecessary information. There were several instances in the documentary which just contained people walking on roads and trains moving, which could have all been replaced with some better informative scenes.

Finally I do appreciate the effort since no one in India makes such documentaries for Indian TV channels, which are filled with only commercial stuffs. But when there is an ability to make such extensive documentary, lot more research could have been done on the contents and could have included much more about India.

After reading good reviews and receiving multiple recommendations, I was expecting more out of this documentary. It is not so much "The Story of India" as it is "Michael Woods (Explores India)." I was amazed at how much the series revolved around him--he was almost never not in the frame. If you find him a little cloying, as I did, this is not a plus. Furthermore, he uses the experts he speaks with more as a sounding board for what he already thinks, which is also annoying. Overall, the documentary is a decent overview of India but could have been far better if it was less about Michael Woods.

I think michael wood has done an excellent job on a subject that is complex, multifaceted and in many ways impossible to capture in its entirety. Indian history, apart from being more than 5000 years old, is non-linear, with plenty of diverse history happening simultaneously at a million places in the subcontinent. The documentary gives a good concise account for novices as well as for serious history buffs. To get an idea of the documentary's usefulness, let's ask the question: how many indians, or non-indians of that matter, have an idea about the time period of the mauryas, the guptas, the sultans, and the mughals etc, or how the british rule changed in 1857. You will need to see it a few times to absorb many fine points of history. That many important historical figures were overlooked by mr wood, is not un-expected due to the shear immensity of the task. But to be fair to mr wood, I think he deserves credit for a job well done. As an amature historian, I do not judge it as a "complete" work by any yard stick, but I found plenty of positives in this documentary. I strongly recommend that you go and see it.

Like the previous reviewer i am yet to see the whole show. It is only documentary that covers the history and culture of India in a style that is appealing to the average viewer. Of course it helps to have a producer like Michael Wood who is passionate about India. This is a "highly visual" summary of the origin of Indian Subcontinent. One can easily read of about the content of the documentary from various reviews available online, however for me personally it brought back memories of high school history classes (I heard the name of Megasthenes after almost 25 years). The documentary also contains some less well known facts, for example, Akbar's communications with Queen Elizabeth I. Overall, I highly recommend this production to anyone whether you know little about India or you are an avid Indophile. My only other note is to recommend the CD compilation of the soundtrack. I really liked the catchy song "Oh Sahibaa by Shanker Mahadevan".

To his credit, English historian and broadcaster Michael Wood does a great job of making several aspects of the Indian history accessible to a wide audience. Although Wood mainly focuses on India, he also looks at the contribution of what are today's Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, to name a few countries, to the history of India. Wood gives the 50,000-foot view of for example the Harappan civilization, the Buddha and Buddhism, the Chola Kingdom, the Mughal Empire, the British Raj, and India's struggle for freedom. Wood spends much time on exploring the life of ordinary Indians. What viewers glean from watching this series is that most Indians remain close to their cultural, religious roots while being open to change. However, "The Story of India" DVD box set is ultimately a disappointment. Whoever is looking for an in-depth documentary about the history of India and its interaction with the outside world will be disappointed. Those viewers will gain more by reading "India a History" by John Keay, "After Tamerlane the Global History of Empire Since 1405" by John Darwin, and "A Splendid Exchange How Trade Shaped the World" by William Bernstein.

On a technical level, this is perhaps the finest documentary I've ever seen. The photography is just spectacular - I'm an amateur still photographer and I found myself often pausing the DVD to admire a brilliant composition. The aerial maps and graphics are also superb. I found the writing and narration by Wood so good. His passion is contagious and his voice appealing.

I'm not in a position to debate the historical accuracy of the documentary nor to weigh in on the extent of the bias. Seems the intent was to deliver an overview of Indian history in an alluring and appealing package that is part documentary and part travelogue. Perhaps not intended for the scholar or academic, but rather for the culturally- and historically-inclined among the masses.

I've always been fascinated with India. It's always been a land for fairytale and mystery for me and after watching "The Story of India" my fascination has only grown. "Story of India" is a six hour long documentary hosted by English historian Michael Wood. (being American, I couldn't help but laugh when I heard him pronounce India "In-der-a") It's divided into six, hour long episodes each one covering a unique aspect of the country.

Episode 1: "Beginnings" covers how the first Indians came out of Africa and began their civilization

Episode 2: "The Power of Ideas" lean how India became a center for intellect and religion. The begins of Buddhism and the ideas of India's great leaders are discussed.

Episode 3: "Spice Routes and Silk Roads" see how India became a powerful trade center exporting exotic spices to Rome and China

Episode 4: "Ages of Gold" How the great king "Raja Raja" brought forth the Indian Renaissance and made great strides in humanitarianism.

Episode 5: "The meeting of Two Oceans" A fascinating look at Islam's spread into India and its clash with Hinduism. See how leaders on both sides worked for peace and the relationship of the two beliefs today.

Episode 6 "Freedom" India's struggle against Brittan and how the war was ultimately won, not though bloodshed but with peace.

After watching "Story of India" I'm more in love with India than I've ever been and I'm certain I will visit it someday. A country of stunning beauty where the past coexists with the present, the importance of Indian history is paramount. If you have any interest in India at all then this documentary is an absolute must see.