Indian documentaries steal the show on Day Three

The Indian Express, Friday, November 24, 2005

ENVIRONMENTAL filmmaker Shekhar Dattatri likes to take lingering shots from him camera, focusing on environment as he sees it.

At Vatavaran - the wildlife and environment film festival - two of his documentaries were showcased and met with an excited response.

While one focused on the guards in Kanha National Park, the subject for the other was how the Kudremukh Mines are polluting water bodies.

“I make lyrical movies for television, but for a forum like this where the audience is bound to be educated, I can portray reality in its simplicity and starkness,” says Dattatri.
Indian-made documentary films, including public service messages, stole the show on the third day of the festival.


In Living with Giants, based on the life of Indian elephants, filmmaker Ashish Chandola traces the elephant and its existence in different Indian states. In Assam, the elephant is revered but also loathed due to the unbearable damage it does to tea and paddy plantations. In southern India, it is a mascot for religious functions, patiently standing through excruciatingly long festivals. "The elephant, which is considered divine, has been made into a beast by humans around it. We are clashing with these giants in every Indian state," says Chandola.

Other movies that also presented a pan-Indian perspective of species like the Indian leopard, relieved a pleasant response from the audience. Detailed, pictorial films like those on the Shivalik monsoons and the forests in Kerala-made their mark. The story of A.Kareem, who has planted 32 acress of forest single-handedly despite being ostracized as an eccentric, made the audience resound with applause. Even though Asian documentaries are also being screened at this year's festival, the audience decided to remain with the Indian documentaries. "The festival is growing but it requires more financial help, and publicity," feels Dattatri. Other events for the day included a workshop on broadcast journalism and a retrospective by underwater filming expert Doug Allen.