Vikram Chatwal and Priya Sachdev at their Great Indian Wedding

For every toast to the good life across the world beamed on Discovery Travel & Living, the Indian viewer yearns to toss back a we-too. The land of palaces and pageantry surely deserves space on the international luxury map. In recognition of this growing demand to take India on, the lifestyle channel is now producing programmes originating from the country.

“Five years ago, we started acquiring content from India. This is the first time we are showing content produced by us,” said Deepak Shourie, executive vice-president and managing director, Discovery Networks India, at Udaipur, while unveiling the first episode of The Great Indian Wedding airing on August 20.

The first wedding featured is that of hotelier Vikram Chatwal and model Priya Sachdev which hit the headlines a few months ago. A palace in the middle of Lake Pichola in Udaipur is where the wedding celebrations took off. And that is the venue — Oberoi Udaivilas — chosen by the channel to make the announcement.

“There will be more productions from India,” stated Shourie. Two more programmes have already been commissioned for the year — a six-episode travel series called Indian Rendezvous and an exploration of the Indian palate called A Matter of Taste.

Recalling how Discovery Travel & Living debuted in India, senior vice-president, advertising sales, Rahul Johri said: “Some years ago, we surveyed the television landscape and identified a niche in lifestyle. When the authorities came over from our US headquarters, we took them on a day trip to Gurgaon, with all the signs of a booming economy all round. We were handed the decision to start the channel at a shopping mall!”

The India premiere marked the global launch for the channel. But those cringing at the thought of Keith Floyd and Ian Wright being made to mouth Hindi lines soon, rest assured — the channel has no plans to shift from its English-speaking platform. A survey of TAM ratings from Week 1, 2005 to Week 28, 2006, marks it out as a clear leader in the English entertainment sector.

“Our position is aspirational yet pacy and hedonistic. Our targets are people in the 18-45 age group who have been abroad or have children studying abroad. With this group, nationality is not important. The programmes will appeal equally to people in an Indian drawing room and in a cafe in Singapore or the UK,” said Aditya Tripathi, vice-president, Discovery’s lifestyle networks.

Present at the screening was the team that followed the Chatwals on the wedding trail, from Udaipur’s City Palace to Debigarh to Jagmohan Palace and then to Delhi’s Taj Palace and the grand reception at ITC Maurya Sheraton. With a guest list that was an eclectic mix of millionaires, maharajas, models and designers, the party continued over the better part of a week. “We did the shooting in a reality show format. You can’t ask someone to redo their pheras. So we had to keep our eyes open all the time. The cameras also had to be unobtrusive,” said Bindiya Murgai, executive producer and senior director, Blue Mango Films.

The production team had to even get the written consent of every guest featured on the show. Don’t miss the world’s richest Indian, Lakshmi Mittal, swaying to Nach baliye.

The channel is now looking for “interesting weddings” — and opulence is not an essential parameter. Any takers?