What a waste of the assembled vintage talent - it's trite, predictable and every line was anticipated by the audience - some of it audibly.
Dismally directed by John Madden it merges every conceivable Merchant-Ivory homage with 'Carry On Abroad' and brings nothing to the screen except a further opportunity for some pretty well-worn old hams to exercise their trademark schtick.
None does it more annoyingly than Bill Nighy retailing that goofy lanky twunt he's honed in countless torpid Britflics and too many adverts to shake a stick at.
Talking of adverts, there's an outrageous piece of product placement for the over sugared BritBiscuit 'Hobnob'. God knows how much United Biscuits/McVities' paid to have it described by Dame Judi and visually advertised by Dame Maggie but it's not nearly enough.
Every racist and patronising cliche is trotted out: revulsion at spicy food, Delhi belly, horror at traffic, Indian inability to organise, visible poverty, caste system, accents and cricket. Apart from the visuals of a fascinating country which may boost Jaipur/Udaipur tourism, this is an appalling piece of lazy and soapy made-for-TV standard filming.
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