Product Description

India defies every attempt at definition. You'd run out of ink, or paint or videotape before you'd even begun to find her, let alone capture her. Take the landscape. There are jungles straight out of Rudyard Kipling, deserts to make Lawrence of Arabia weep with envy, the highest mountains in the world, tropical beaches, fading colonial hill stations, crowded cities. Indians are as varied as their landscapes. More than one billion people. Thousands of languages. Almost every religion known to man. And somehow all of it mixed into one vast, raucous and unruly democracy. To make his brand new film The Soul Of India, travel filmmaker Rick Ray spent 4 months in India, braving heat, cold, altitude, earthquakes and riots to patch together a unique and personal tapestry of this nearly indescribable country. We will visit familiar sites like the Taj Mahal, the palaces and forts of Rajasthan, the Himalayas and the River Ganges. We will also peer into an India that few visitors see - a land of villages and inner cities, a country in which reside the hopes and dreams of 1/6th of the earth's population. Our tour will take us to India s bustling cities of Bombay, New Delhi and Calcutta. We will also visit quiet and tranquil landscapes in South India and in the Himalayas. We ll explore the majesty of legendary cities like Varanasi, Agra, Udaipur, Jaipur, Jodhpur, and Jaiselmer. The majesty and mystery of South India will come alive with trips to kerala s famous Backwaters, silk factories, Cochin, Madurai and so much more. We will visit maharaja palaces, visit a camel festival, ride on the luxury Palace On Wheels, and see sides of the Taj Mahal that few ever explore. All of India s religions will be explained in depth, including Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Christianity, the Jain faith and the Sikh faith. We ll learn how political events have shaped the landscape and how the influence of the British empire brought ideas and concepts still deeply rooted in the Indian psyche today. We ll explore concepts such as the caste system, democracy, marriage, privacy, life and death and see how they differ from our preconceptions in the West. India is a challenge to the senses, to the mind and to everything we in America take for granted. If you come to terms with her nearly infinite diversity, her stunning vitality and her in-your-face energy, you will learn a great deal about yourself. In the process, you will learn a great deal about the rest of humanity. Once you have glimpsed the kaleidoscope of color, the encyclopedia of experience that is India, you'll probably agree that you have discovered the most colorful and fascinating country on earth.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #20302 in DVD
• Released on: 2001-01-01
• Format: NTSC
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 90 minutes

National Geographic Society, March 6, 200
"..without reservation, Ray's work exceeds the industry's highest standards for cinematography and editing, script writing, sound recording or editing....."

Video Librarian Magazine, February 19, 2003
"Rick's films beat the competition thanks to beautiful images and wonderful scripts, they reveal insights into the human condition...."

From the Actor
Rick Ray's journeys are the stuff of legends. Sneaking into countries as diverse as Syria, Ethiopia, Burma, Vietnam and, most recently, traveling the length and breadth of India, Rick Ray sees countries from the ground level - without the tourist hype and without pretension. This is his, by his own estimation, "finest work" - an amazing journey to three amazing countries, Vietnam, Cambodia and Burma

Customer Reviews

A video tour of India
This video is an informative and enjoyable 90-minute tour of India. The itinerary includes the Himalayas, the Ganges River, New Delhi, Mumbai (Bombay), the Taj Mahal, and the deserts of Rajasthan. You'll visit Hindu temples and the palaces of Maharajas; you'll see camels and tigers; and you'll learn about the caste system, the railway system, Gandhi, Bollywood, and the religions of India. (I use short excerpts of this video in teaching Hinduism, Islam, Sikhism, and Jainism to undergraduates.)

I'd recommend this video to armchair travelers and anyone who wants to learn a little bit about the geography and culture of India.

Also recommended: "Ancient India," a 50-minute overview of the history of India through the 17th century.

Rick Ray presents India better than any Indian has done
As a pure-bred Indian living aboard, I often have to explain the culture, the climate and the contradictions of India to people that have never ventured there. I checked out many accounts by various people, but none matches the through understanding and sincere presentation as does the Soul of India. This DVD makes a perfect gift or giveaway. Thanks Rick Ray for presenting my country to me, and to the world.

Outstanding tour of India
So, I actually got this for my son for a project on India,
and was amazed by the journey that Rick Ray took me on.
It was educational, historical, eye -opening, funny, insightful and a definite must watch by anyone considering going to India! Even if a trip is not on the horizon, it is definitely worth the money to buy this tape and see India.