This was very painful to watch because it was nothing more than a publicity stunt for Modi. I have watched other Bear Grylls episodes but this one was a total fail. It started off promisingly with Bear mentioning how dangerous the tigers, snakes and elephants were in the wild jungles of India, but this was filmed in a safari park in India with Modi's security staff close behind at all times.
Right from the start there was an atmosphere of tension when Bear Gryll's proclaimed, "My job is to keep you alive Mr. President" and with that he made him a homemade spear out of a sharp knife tied to a strong branch from a tree - to guard against a possible attack from a vicious tiger (from another country no doubt - because the tigers in India are all docile, god fearing religious ones). Anyways Modi declined to carry it stating that he was a vegetarian and would not be able to use it against any animal - even if he was attacked. . I suppose if a tiger was to confront them, Modi would probably bore him to tears with his gentle talk (hmm I wonder if tigers eat vegetarian people)?
I was expecting Modi to do something adventurous. But sadly, it turned out to be totally embarrassing with Bear asking pre-scripted questions to Modi (in English), whilst the humble, yet totally boring President replied in Hindi about his life, past and present. It was just to promote tourism to India and project Modi as some sort of saintly figure. Bear kept nodding at all of the answers as if he understands Hindi but ofcourse he doesn't.
The highlight of the trip was when the President got into a home made raft whilst Bear got it across the river with the top half of his body hanging over the edge and the bottom half pushing the raft with his legs, through the shallow waters to the other side, with an incessant Modi babbling on and on about his lifestyle and principles. Towards the end of the show, I found myself shouting at the telly: "For god's sake man, do something interesting, make a fire without using matches or lighter, climb a tree or cook a delicious vegetarian meal out of the grass or something." But sadly nothing happened.
Strange away to promote tourism because there was not one single animal in sight, no tiger, elephant, snake or even stray holy cow (which are plentiful on all Indian roads). The closest sign of an animal was an enormous elephant turd that Bear picked up with his bare hands at the start. I mean who is going to visit a safari park with not one single animal in sight? Duh......remind me to have a strong word with the marketing staff on this one.
It was almost like watching an old Hindi film where the hero explains in detail for ten minutes how he is going to make the villain pay for his bad deeds in life and then it turns out to be his long lost brother when their absent mother suddenly turns up and there are tears in everyone's eyes (mum, hero and villain) and no punishment is meted out after all as both villain and hero are too busy crying and shouting "Ma", as they hug the old cronie who had deserted them both at a young age.
In conclusion, this was a total waste of one hour (probably took 2 hours to film), I would have been better off watching paint dry instead. I just feel sorry for Bear Grylls to have been used like this for a publicity stunt. Hope they paid him well for his efforts as this one won't do his career any good.
Right from the start there was an atmosphere of tension when Bear Gryll's proclaimed, "My job is to keep you alive Mr. President" and with that he made him a homemade spear out of a sharp knife tied to a strong branch from a tree - to guard against a possible attack from a vicious tiger (from another country no doubt - because the tigers in India are all docile, god fearing religious ones). Anyways Modi declined to carry it stating that he was a vegetarian and would not be able to use it against any animal - even if he was attacked. . I suppose if a tiger was to confront them, Modi would probably bore him to tears with his gentle talk (hmm I wonder if tigers eat vegetarian people)?
I was expecting Modi to do something adventurous. But sadly, it turned out to be totally embarrassing with Bear asking pre-scripted questions to Modi (in English), whilst the humble, yet totally boring President replied in Hindi about his life, past and present. It was just to promote tourism to India and project Modi as some sort of saintly figure. Bear kept nodding at all of the answers as if he understands Hindi but ofcourse he doesn't.
The highlight of the trip was when the President got into a home made raft whilst Bear got it across the river with the top half of his body hanging over the edge and the bottom half pushing the raft with his legs, through the shallow waters to the other side, with an incessant Modi babbling on and on about his lifestyle and principles. Towards the end of the show, I found myself shouting at the telly: "For god's sake man, do something interesting, make a fire without using matches or lighter, climb a tree or cook a delicious vegetarian meal out of the grass or something." But sadly nothing happened.
Strange away to promote tourism because there was not one single animal in sight, no tiger, elephant, snake or even stray holy cow (which are plentiful on all Indian roads). The closest sign of an animal was an enormous elephant turd that Bear picked up with his bare hands at the start. I mean who is going to visit a safari park with not one single animal in sight? Duh......remind me to have a strong word with the marketing staff on this one.
It was almost like watching an old Hindi film where the hero explains in detail for ten minutes how he is going to make the villain pay for his bad deeds in life and then it turns out to be his long lost brother when their absent mother suddenly turns up and there are tears in everyone's eyes (mum, hero and villain) and no punishment is meted out after all as both villain and hero are too busy crying and shouting "Ma", as they hug the old cronie who had deserted them both at a young age.
In conclusion, this was a total waste of one hour (probably took 2 hours to film), I would have been better off watching paint dry instead. I just feel sorry for Bear Grylls to have been used like this for a publicity stunt. Hope they paid him well for his efforts as this one won't do his career any good.
