Oprah’s Next Chapter” India special, which aired on OWN earlier this year and just premiered on Discovery Channel India, has been criticized for being “snobbish” and “ignorant.”
In January, Oprah visited the country to film the two-part special, which had its simulcast premiere on Discovery Channel India and its affiliate TLC over the weekend. But, the reaction to Winfrey’s take on the country, has largely been negative, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
During her travels, Winfrey visited a Mumbai slum, the Jaipur Literary Festival (where she taped an interaction with noted author Deepak Chopra), a widows home in North India rounded off with a trip to the Taj Mahal. The episode also filmed Winfrey spending time with families, from the slum-dwelling poor [see video below] to upper crust millionaires, including being escorted by Indian film icon Amitabh Bachchan and his family to a glamorous Bollywood party hosted in her honor by leading Mumbai socialite Parmeshwar Godrej. [See below.]
One of the major criticisms against Winfrey is when she asks her dinner hosts, an upscale Mumbai family who lay down a lavish meal for her, “I heard some Indian people eat with their hands still?” [Watch below –– at 1:46.]
