Oprah Winfrey criticised for ‘snooty’ Indian documentary

Oprah posing in front of the Taj Mahal (Credit: PA)A TV special following Oprah Winfrey’s recent trip to India has been met with harsh criticism following its premiere on Indian television over the weekend.

The Wall Street Journal’s India Real Time blog said that the show typified "India as Westerners imagine it, one stereotype at a time,” while another critic labelled it as “snooty” and “snobbish”.

The loudest criticism came for one scene in which 58-year-old Winfrey asks a family she has joined for a meal: “I heard some people eat with their hands still?”

Eating with one’s hands is a long-standing tradition in the Indian community, as stated by Rituparna Chatterjee of the CNN-IBN news channel, who said it was a fact that “none of us are ashamed of”.

She continued: "As a responsible public figure about to air a show that will be beamed across the world, you should have done your homework."

Rajyasree Sen, writing for Firstpost’s Bollywood blog, called the show “myopic, unaware, ignorant and gauche”.