Indian wildlife filmmakers at Green Oscars

After the recently concluded Wildlife Week, the spotlight for the next five days is on the Green Oscars at Bristol, UK.
Three films by Indian wildlife filmmakers have made it to the prestigious shortlist. We check out their wild side
Filmmakers: Rita Banerji and Shilpi Sharma
Nominated Film: The Wild Meat Trail
The Oscars are all about glitz and glamour. What do the Green Oscars stand for?
Rita: The Green Oscars in the field of wildlife and environment films is one the most prestigious affairs. And every wildlife/environment filmmaker across the world aspires to be in it.
An unforgettable moment in the wild...
Rita: While we were in the forest shooting The Wild Meat Trail, we camped at night with the Nishis, a tribal community. They’d set up a temporary machan for us by a salt lake so we could spend the night and film there. At night, one of the Nishis said they’d lead us to the machan. We followed him, in pitch darkness, lost our way and after 45 minutes returned to the camp.
Filmmaker: Sandesh Kadur
Nominated Film: North-Eastern Diaries: Seeking Wildlife in the Eastern Himalayas
The last time you unleashed your wild side...
Sandesh: It was when I was on an expedition at the Talle Valley Wildlife Sanctuary in the Himalayas looking for reptiles and amphibians. No real scientific expedition has been done in this region so far. It was the toughest — the road was washed out in the rain, there were very deep mountains and valleys all around.
Wildlife photography is said to require much patience. Which animal has been your toughest model?
Sandesh: All my models are tough. They never come on time. I have to sit there waiting for them. Even when they show up, they do what they want and never what I want them to do. Sometimes they charge; they are sometimes shy and hardly show themselves. And sometimes they are a tease; they show up and disappear!
Filmmakers: Krupakar and Senani
Nominated Film: The Pack: Episode 5
What does it take to be photographers in the forest — the highs, the lows, the encounters with animals and forest brigand Veerappan.
Senani: Our job is our passion. We are not part-timers and have been camping in the Mudumali and Bandipur forests to shoot The Pack for years. Thirteen years ago, when Veerappan kidnapped us, we decided to turn the spotlight away from his heroics and killings and got the most out of his knowledge of the forest and its wildlife.
How did you frame the character for your story?
You need to be able to look beyond the image. Just clicking away is one thing; if you want to tell an intimate story, you need to know your subject extremely well. You need to do a lot of reading and also have great insight into the subject. In The Pack, we got to know Kennai, the bold wild female dog, intimately. She fascinated us. When Kennai was very young, her mother was killed by a tiger. She decided to leave her natal pack, all alone, in search of her future. It needs nothing short of a miracle to survive alone in these dangerous forests. And Kennai not only survived, but even succeeded in forming a pack of her own. We followed her for over two years and grew very close to her.
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