Actor Dev Patel celebrates India from Los Angeles

London

Quarantine brought opportunities to Dev Patel's front yard.

From a safe distance, the British actor was able to enjoy both his birthday and his relationship with India without leaving his L.A. home.

The first was courtesy of his girlfriend, Australian actress Tilda Cobham-Hervey, who arranged for Patel's friends to drive past with paper planes and letters while he sat in front of the house.

Second was the offer to celebrate India's culture and civilizations by narrating a National Geographic special, "India From Above," which airs Sept. 30.

As he quarantined, a portable recording booth was sent and parked in his driveway. "It was like a trailer hitched to a car, that had been completely sanitized," Patel said.

Apart from being reminded of the pandemic by the sound of a passing ambulance, it worked well for the voice-over.

"It was incredible to be able to make some art in a way, to voice this beautiful thing, linked up to India," Patel said.

"India From Above" is a two-part documentary that uses drone footage to show aerial views of towering temples, religious gatherings, EDM festivals and solar technology.

"As soon as I step off that plane and out of the airport, you're sucked into this massive humanity, the crowds and the people and your eye level just kind of being swept along with this tide of people. And that will sweep you somewhere really inspiring and quite magical."

"But to zoom further and further out and higher and higher. That is pretty special," he added

Patel, who earned an Emmy nomination for portraying a heartbroken dating app developer in "Modern Love," admits to being tempted to go "full Attenborough" after growing up listening to Sir David narrate natural history shows.

"For me, it was just telling the story of the ingenuity of the people,...