User Reviews

It appeared Perkins was trying to make this more of a documentary about female gender issues in India, rather than a holistic breakdown of socio-economic life along the millenia-old Ganges, as it is in the 21st Century.

In episode 2 (I believe) for example, the majority of the episode was devoted to a group of school girls. Only a slight bit of the episode was actually devoted to the story of a potato farmer, a pariah community of (originally male) transgender people, and an annual Hindu Ganges religious festival. Apart from the potato farmer who only got less than 5 minutes of screen time, I didn't feel I learned much about the economy, local government, agriculture, business, the education system, population strains, or wealth gaps of the entire society.

For someone who's had no prior knowledge of India before watching this documentary, you'd get the impression that Indian men are doing well and Indian women are perpetually oppressed. Never mind that overpopulation, poverty, and a dangerously wide wealth gap affects both men and women.

If Perkins be the type who is for gender equality, I find it extremely ironic that she was catcalling and making objectifying remarks at local Indian men. She even once uttered a flirtatious purr at a groom during a pre-wedding get-together. Now I wonder how that flew given India's conservative culture.