‘Project Tiger’ premiers in Bengaluru, documentary covers India’s 50-year-long efforts to protect big cat

Sponsored by Discover Village, Rainmatter Foundation and Sandur Manganese and Iron Ores, the film was helmed by veteran filmmakers and wildlife photographers Rohit Varma and Kalyan Varma via the Nature inFocus production house.

The event concluded with a performance of the documentary’s theme song ‘Bagh Aayo Re’ by the Indian Ocean. (Source: Nature inFocus)

The film takes viewers through the decades of conservation efforts, starting with the ban on tiger and leopard skins along with the realisation that tiger numbers had collapsed massively since the 1930s.

It then moves on to the early success of Project Tiger, followed by the catastrophic elimination of tigers by poachers from Panna and Sariska reserves.

Examining the rise of wildlife crime rings and the fight against them, the documentary concludes with the success of the modern day — where although the tiger is far from the 40,000 count of the 1930s, it is at least way ahead of the catastrophic low point of 1,411 tigers in the early 2000s, with the current tiger population having reached 3,682.

The film uses multiple narrators, with conservationists such as Belinda Wright, Valmik Thapar and Bittu Sahgal, noted biologist Ullas Karanth, historian Mahesh Rangarajan, as well as civil servants Dr Rajesh Gopal and Deep Contractor, to name a few, who lent their voices for the documentary. Uniquely, the film also uses a soundtrack composed by the fusion rock band Indian Ocean.

Speaking to indianexpress.com, Rohit said, “It is the largest conservation story of the world. No country has put in this kind of effort to save a single species. People know that the species has been saved but they don’t know the backstory.”

He added, “The idea came because it is the 50th year of Project Tiger which was started in 1973. Two years ago, we started discussing it (the documentary) and that is how the whole idea was generated. Vijay Mohanraj (IFS) called and asked if Kalyan and I are willing to work on it. The world needs to know what India has done and what effort has gone into saving this iconic species.”

Kalyan said, “Most of the films I’ve been making or have been working on are pretty wildlife films focusing on how beautiful animals are. This time, we really wanted to do a conservation story that the country can be proud of. The current generation has only been on social media for the past fifteen years or so but they do not know what happened in the past. By saving the tiger, you are saving the prey and protecting the forest as well.”

He added, “As many as 350 rivers originate from tiger reserves.”

Explaining Indian Ocean’s involvement with the project, Kalyan said, “Indian Ocean has been dear friends and Rahul (Ram) (noted singer of the Indian Ocean band) has been a part of environmental movements such as the ‘Narmada Bachao Andolan’. The music is very Indian and inspired by local communities. Another thing we showcase in the movie is that local communities also have had to pay a price.”

The premiere also played host to the launch of ‘Tiger, Tiger, Burning Bright’, a coffee table book by Yashpal Rathore. The event concluded with a performance of the documentary’s theme song ‘Bagh Aayo Re’ by the Indian Ocean.