Just wait to watch Pranav Sahi’s documentary on all you ever wanted to know about Valmiki Tiger Reserve — the state’s lone tiger sanctuary — from tracking methods, the lifestyle of Tharu tribals to the historical importance of Valmiki temple.
The information and public relations department, to promote tourism, has got the film made by the city-based filmmaker this June in Hindi. It now plans to get the five shorts, each of 15 minutes and mainly showcasing wildlife, dubbed in English to help its telecast on international channels.
Made at a budget of Rs 7 lakh, the shorts have been shot with high-definition cameras bought from Japan.
The film has already being telecast on regional and national channels of Doordarshan.
Pranav (47), who made the film under the Pranav Motion Pictures banner, told The Telegraph that he had recently started dubbing the film in English after being asked to do so by the department.
“The English dubbing would be complete in two months, after which the department would send it to international channels with an eye to promote tourism in Valmiki Tiger Reserve,” said Pranav.
On the film’s contents, Pranav said: “We have tried to cover all aspects of Valmiki Tiger Reserve — from its flora to fauna, and from culture to its geography and history, we have tried to cover them all. People might not know that around 2.5 lakh Tharu tribals live in the park area. We have filmed their two-storeyed mud houses apart from the reserve’s field workers who track tigers with the help of the tribals. We have interviewed them as well. We have also tried to explain in the documentary how the Valmiki Tiger Reserve came into being and how the Bettiah raj and the Ramnagar raj earlier owned it.”
He added: “There are 20-25 temples in the reserve area. We have shot around 20 temples, including Janki temple. According to folklore, Sitaji had asked mother earth to take her into her lap at this site. We have also shown Sofa temple in our film. The popular saying is that one can reach heaven after going through the sanctum sanctorum of this temple. One would surely fall in love with the Valmiki Tiger Reserve after seeing our documentary film.”
Shooting in the park was not easy. “My crew and I had to face many difficulties during shooting. Once the field workers of the tiger reserve accompanying our team during shoot abandoned us in the middle of the forest for around an hour-and-a-half. We were very scared as our cellphones were not working. We did not have any other mode of communication either,” said Pranav, describing the challenges during the shoot.
Speaking of close encounters, the filmmaker said: “We shot wild animals on video from a range of 300 metres. We were scared because we could hear tigers’ roar. We were surrounded by around 1,000 monkeys once. Shooting the documentary was definitely not a very easy task and involved high risk. One of our crew members was attacked by a wild boar during the shoot. He was saved by field workers of the tiger reserve.”
