Watch Hitler come alive on Discovery

This is one programme which will be loved by movie-buffs and students of history alike. Discovery will be telecasting a full one hour movie, starring Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Franklin D Roosevelt and Winston Churchill. The show called 'Virtual History' is scheduled to be aired in March 2005.

While the show unveils the plot to kill Hitler, the documentary features actors who look somewhat similar to personalities such as Hitler, Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill. In fact, the actors' faces have been digitally replaced by the faces of these personalities in the documentary. Even the sets and the backdrop are true copies of the actual offices and homes of these historic personalities. Raja Balasubramanium, brand director – marketing, Discovery Networks India, says, "All these nitty-gritty detailing will make the documentary look real.”

Divided in two episodes of one hour each, the first episode of Virtual History will showcase the 'making' of the film, where it will talk about the technology used to make this documentary. The second episode will show the actual movie. While the documentary film unveils a plot to kill the German dictator Hitler, it will also show what Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill were doing on that day.

The channel is currently ready with one plot of historical importance but soon, it will come up with several such plots and incidents. Balasubramanium says, "The cost of producing these shows are huge. So, it will take some time before we produce a similar show.”

For the first quarter of 2005 (January-March), the channel has also lined up another new series called 'Ultimate Cars'. The entire series is of 13 episodes and each episode will concentrate on one category of cars and four to five top brands of cars in these categories.

And for this December, the channel is airing a new show, 'Becoming Alexander'. This is a documentary on the making of Oliver Stone's epic film Alexander, which has exclusive footage from the making of the movie and captivating interactions with its cast and crew. The programme will be aired on December 26, a few days before the release of the movie on Indian screens.

Apart from these, the channel also has some other interesting series such as 'Great Romances of Twentieth Century'. This 15-episode series will be aired from January 2005 and will profile celebrity romantic couples such as John F. Kennedy and Jackie Poster, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, and King Edward VIII and Mrs Wallis Simpson.

While talking to agencyfaqs!, Balasubramanium agreed that a niche channel like Discovery lacks appointment viewing as at times, people aren't aware of the programming schedule of the channel. He says, "We are looking forward to promote our shows more aggressively so that watching Discovery becomes a habit for the viewers.”

© 2004 agencyfaqs!