Rating: ****

Who’s in it?

“What time is it? Are we there yet? Why is the earth round? We aren’t there yet?” Yes, I was one of those annoying kids who asked existential questions and stuck my head out of the BEST window to teach my parents a lesson for not taking the cab home from Parel to Worli. If only Discovery had commissioned its

Atlas series two decades earlier, this reviewer would have had a more fruitful childhood, and less embarrassed parents.

A high profile series, magnificent in scale and shot in a trademark Discovery gloss, Atlas presents “a portrait of the world’s greatest and unique nations seen through the lives of their extraordinary people.” Ambitious. Each two-hour episode is narrated by a celebrity, among them actor Russel Crowe (Australia Revealed), director Mira Nair (India Revealed), Italian actress and filmmaker Isabella Rossellini (Italy Revealed) and other such luminaries whose names you may not recognise or care about.

The story so far?

The series premieres this weekend. And the curtain raiser is, ta dah, India Revealed. Subsequent episodes on six other countries—Brazil, China, Italy, Australia, Mexico and South Africa—and further chapters on Russia, France, Japan and Egypt—currently under production—will air later in the year. Thankfully, the review copy included Australia - how the country acquired its competitive edge, the aborigine integration, its criminal past, are all part of the comprehensive episode.

What’s hot?

The multiple-perspective narratives are initially jarring but respect to the director and producers for refusing to dumb down to audiences. The rugged landscape and coast of Australia is breathtaking, and the personal histories, enhance the beauty of the land. The project trivia notes say that director Chris Thornburn took around 70 commercial flights and traveled more than 62,000 miles, roughly 2.5 times the circumference of the earth, during the production of the episode and it’s easy to see why. Every corner of the continent finds a mention here.

What’s not?

The aboriginal section seems very obviously staged and suffers from the same romanticisation that Indian sadhus must be sick off. It reminds me of a postcard a friend once bought me from South Africa: “The next tourist who calls me Leopard gets to be lunch,” says the Cheetah. We would have preferred Anthony Bourdain lunching with the aborigines, but hey, a chain smoking, alcoholic and witty chef is not everyone’s cup of tea. Also, the two-hour running time works both for and against Atlas.

Should you be watching it?