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Nithya Subramanian

Ever wondered what future inhabitants of Planet Earth would look like in 200 million years? Discovery Channel gives you an idea.

Dinosaurs became extinct millions of years ago, giving way to humans. But ever wondered what the future inhabitants of Planet Earth are going to look like some 200 million years later? Discovery Channel is taking a voyage into the future. So hold your breath.

For starters, Australia, Asia and North America could well be fused into a landmass, throwing up a mountain 1,000 metres higher than Mount Everest. New species of animals named Babookari — a monkey-like creature that lives in grasslands, Carakiller — eight-foot tall birds and the Falconfly — a huge insect — could just be some of the new residents of our planet.

Called The Future Is Wild, this two-hour new international which premiered over the weekend has been put together by Concept Originator and Executive Producer John Adams, Professor McNeill Alexander, Biomechanics Expert, and Peter Bailey, Animation Director. The whole series has taken six years from the origination of the idea. Of these, two years went into production and four years in development. The effort that went into this programme is mind-boggling. Here's a glimpse.

Initially, the biologists met up a palaeogeographer who predicted what the world map was going to look like in the future. Once the team got the world maps together, they went to a climatologist who was able to tell them what the distribution of climates over the world was going to be like. Then with the maps and the climates, the biologists started working on the flora and fauna. Here they had to use lots of imagination because the interaction between animals, plants, and their environment is so very complex.

What the biologists did was show what a few of the selected possibilities are. Then they started inventing animals, trying to make sure that all of them would really work, that they were strong enough to stand up and move, that they had enough room for all the guts and muscles, and the like, that are needed in their bodies, and that they were ecologically sensible.

This is not the first time that the infotainment channel has been putting out spectacular shows. Launched in India in 1995, it has worked hard to improve its programming. And this year the strategy was to come up with a number of specials. So there was Blue Planet, on the life underwater, Bismarck — The Story Of An Unsinkable Ship, DNA: The Promise And The Price, Science Of SARS, and this latest show, among several others.

"The reason we picked up specials is to offer varied programming. We want to air top-of-the-line varied programming," says Pankaj Saxena, Director, Programming, Discovery Communications India. The viewership of the channel is spread across all members and the launch of The Future Is Wild operates at a scientific level with the adults and is fascinating enough for the young viewers. These shows have been shot at lavish budgets of millions of dollars, over several years and have been accepted well internationally. But they have not been premiered simultaneously internationally because the shows have to be dubbed in Hindi.

The channel is also now looking at having more of Indian content and is in talks with producers and documentary filmmakers. Quality, of course, is the key.

Bollywood goes calling

It is not just Aishwarya Rai making waves internationally (either with her Bond film offer or her outlandish outfits at Cannes). For the first time, Turner Classic Movies (TCM), the specialised old-movie channel in the US, is airing a festival celebrating Bolly- wood.

And none other than noted director/producer Ismail Merchant is presenting the show to be telecast each Thursday, in June. So, viewers in the US will get the opportunity to watch Turner Classic Movies' celebration of the world of Indian cinema with a 12-film festival dedicated to Bollywood.

The films range from tragi-comic melodramas to romances, containing the over-the-top operatic approach to filmmaking, use of colour and elaborate choreography for which the genre is known. The festival covers films from the early 1950s through the beginning of the 21st century.

Says Merchant, "Bollywood has added a new dimension to the entertain- ment of audiences all over the world. It is full of energy and charge, and the TCM move to show these selected films is a great opportunity for viewers to tune into Bollywood."

The movies to be showcased include Do Bigha Zameen, a black-and-white classic, directed by Bimal Roy, which represents an almost documentary-style film that captures the feel of Kolkata. Roy disregarded the glossy look of the Mumbai studios and shot it in the style of the Italian neo-realists. Others films include Mother India, the first Indian film to be nominated for an Oscar in the Best Foreign Film category, Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge and Rangeela, with music by A.R. Rahman.

Response can be sent to life@thehindu.co.in

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