Navjit Dhillon It takes immaculate skill to make a documentary about the Indian civilization without even once mentioning some of the greatest names that ever walked on this part of the world. Steering the story of India completely clear of the likes of Guru Gobind Singh, Maharana Pratap, Shivaji Marhatta, Maharaja Ranjit Singh, Tipu Sultan, Bhagat Singh and Subhash Chandra Bose, as if they never existed on the face of earth, takes a lot of creativity and improvisation. My compliments to Michael wood and his team for their profoundly negligent research and erudite incompetence that distorts and twists the story of India like never before. In no other version of India's story will you find the East India company, Aurangzeb and Jahangir as contenders for the most benevolent regime that Indians witnessed.

rai-gandalf Superlative stuff!!1) Covering a history of a country as vast, diverse, complex, chaotic and ever-changing as India over a period of 10K years is obviously biting more than you can chew. I think the narrator and the BBC guys deserve a lot of credit for handling it in the exceptional way that they did.2) Like it usually goes with such sweeping historical documentaries, you either get a vast overview like a powerpoint presentation without meaning (a bread first search) - or you get a selective investigation of individual threads/stories which might not be comprehensive but provides emotional depth (iterative depth first search).3) Some people might be put off after the first episode where Sri Lanka was shown as Tamil Nadu on the map. Granted this is misleading, however point to note: TN was highlighted with contrast and the caption "Tamil Nadu" was appearing beside it (ditto with Kerala) - the fact that the graphics guys decided to caption it on top of Sri Lanka.4) As an Indian, and as someone who has read history of all kinds, I was more than blown away by the sheer number of facts I pleasantly discovered by watching this series.5) By and large, the narrator is affable and likable and his enthusiasm is quite infectious. His sense of wonder seemed very genuine to me. If there is a criticism, I do agree that sometimes the narrator did seem to excessively gush and praise (and portray historic India as a utopian paragon of civilization - I am sure that historic India also had its own set of vices) - this did seem to be because of some sub-conscious sense of guilt that the narrator clearly felt at European imperialism in the past. While that did appear a little contrived, it was a very minor distraction.6) Because this format relied on micro-threads and unconventional sources (a lot of it hearsay and word-of-mouth), some of the awe-filled facts might turn out to be fiction. Furthermore, I would like to point out - that civilization and history is as much about the legends and the tales and the fables as it is about facts.Bottomline: This is a fabulous and awe inspiring effort. Definitely a must-watch for Indians and non-Indians alike. BBC as always proves itself to be the only broadcaster/producer of any content of repute.

ekta-srivastav I started to watch this series with a fair degree of scepticism, being of Indian origin, but was hooked within the first 15 mins. The credit almost entirely goes to Michael Wood and the unending passion with which he has presented this masterpiece. It is a daunting task to be asked to cover India's vast and varied history in 6 short hours but Wood tells an intriguing and masterful tale, carefully taking into consideration all of the historical aspects and view points. I was delighted that as an Indian, there was a lot I got to learn and was pleasantly surprised at Wood's tenacity towards fact finding. Also, the history is told not so much in a chronological factual manner, but in Wood's fascinating and poetic story telling style, making it an extremely interesting and entertaining 6 parts to watch.If I had to be picky, the only criticism I would have to offer would be on the lack of attention to the splendid Mughal era. Wood does touch upon it , but only when it is dying. The great Mughal emperors like Jahangir, Akbar and Shah Jahan have played a huge role in shaping Indian history and have given to India such splendid monuments such as the Taj Mahal. But then again, it is a vast country with an over-abundance of history and tales. A must watch in my book !

Paul Papadopoulos The man is incredible I have also watched his long trek in the series he produced "In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great" and his voyages to pursue Jason and the Argonauts , as well as the Himalayan myth of Shangri-La and biblical one of the Queen of Sheba I in his "Myths and Heroes" series for the BBC.This series is a brilliant and unorthodox cinematographic account of India (which also includes what are now Pakistan and Bangladesh) and its entire history from its prehistoric times, through its ancient civilisations, the invasions of the middle ages and the later arrival of the Moguls to the East India Company, superseded after the 1857 uprising by the ninety years of the British Raj and thence the 1947 independence and partition to the present day .Michael Wood is truly an intrepid traveller in the Victorian mould who seems to be prepared to take all kinds of personal risk in his quest to produce this compelling documentary epic. The term "documentary" is perhaps, misleading as he has succeeded in producing a work of art much different for the usual dull, albeit informative programmes of that genre so often sat through while watching TV on a rainy day. His approach to demonstrate that history is a living phenomenon and not just something that dwells in the past. He emphasises the way that the historic past is ever fresh and present in Modern India. He walks the souks and the bazaars, follows pilgrims, cruises on the Ganges, toils up the steps of numerous mosques, palaces and temples and climbs the remotest and most difficult mountain paths in the Himalayas and struggle along jungle tracks of the Tamil south to make his points.Culture, religions, traditions, festivals and daily life of the Indian people and its symbiotic relationship with animals of all kinds, tigers, elephants, holy cows and urban or temple simians is well covered here in a carefully crafted mosaic. He's not afraid to discus India's relatively untroubled sexual relations with an attractive high-caste Indian woman clad in a sari who has written a book in English about the Karma Sutra "It's not all about different positions" she says with a smile over a cup of tea in her garden. He also discusses the importance for Hindus of cremation with the low-caste foreman in charge of lighting the funeral pyre from a charcoal fire that has been burning continuously for 3000 years on the banks of the River Ganges (where the ashes are scattered) : "Well you see most people won't touch us. They will avoid us in the street but even if they are the prime minister when a relative of theirs dies they must come only to us, "the untouchables" as no other caste may light the funeral fire".Mr. Wood also hobnobs with the maharajahs in their palaces. Nevertheless, he seem to greatly enjoy his long journeys across the sub-continent in shabby third-class overcrowded railway carriages whose only form of air conditioning are pane less windows and dangerously open doors. He has really spurred my own interest to plan some future trip to the sub-continent and see first hand some of the images he has so cannily projected through my TV screen.