From 1,411 to 3,167: Documentary on Project Tiger’ highlights success story behind numbers

Bengaluru, Nov 3 (PTI) For Kalyan Varma and Rohit Varma, wildlife filmmakers, friends and founders of Nature In Focus, a platform for exploration into India’s wilderness, the twists and turns in the story of India’s tigers are so intricately woven over the last 50 decades that even a 90-minute film barely manages to untangle it.

Their documentary film, Project Tiger’, created to mark the 50th anniversary of India’s mission to save a global icon from extinction, will be premiered in Bengaluru on November 4 at Jayamahal Palace. The premiere will be followed by a live performance by Indian Ocean, who also set the background score for the film.

“The film plays out more like a murder mystery in the sense of violence involved, tigers disappearing, and people finding hints and clues and trying to solve the problems,” says Kalyan.

The idea behind the film, says Rohit, is to let people step back and look at the history of tigers and view the conservation efforts and its success in that context of history.

“Not so long ago, in 1970 to be exact, it was completely legal to come to India and shoot a tiger and stuff it and take it back. You can’t even imagine that now. That is how far we have come,” says Kalyan.

One of the turning points in tiger conservation came when a census threw up the number 1,411 and tigers became locally extinct at Sariska Tiger Reserve in 2005 and Panna Tiger Reserve in 2006, say the filmmakers.

“It impacted people. Public opinion and public sentiment changed and, because of which, the government really had to take action, and pour in the necessary infrastructure. Till then, for instance, the government would use the pugmark method, which is to count the pugmarks and come up with the number of tigers. These days we use the more scientific camera trapping,” says Rohit.

The attack on poachers and the deeply-penetrated smuggling ring became multi-pronged when the public willingly participated in bringing back tigers from extinction.

India’s tiger population rose by 200 in the past four years to reach 3,167 in 2022, according to the latest tiger census data released by government of India.

According to the data, the tiger population was 1,411 in 2006, 1,706 in 2010, 2,226 in 2014, 2,967 in 2018 and 3,167 in 2022.

“China was the primary market and much of it was sent via Tibet. In 2006, Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama told his followers not to get involved in it. And that’s again a big turning point in tiger conservation,” says Kalyan.

The biggest takeaway from the film is the fact that if one has the will, anything is possible, say the filmmakers.

“In India, I think everybody had the will to make this happen. Today, more than 75 per cent of the wild tigers are actually in India. Our story of the tiger will also talk about the resilience of human beings, particularly local communities that stay close to the forested areas,” says Rohit.

The filmmakers say the prominence that tigers enjoy in India’s culture and traditions also helped the project.

“The way we look at wildlife is very different from other countries. People understood that once you save the tiger, you save the deer, you save the pig, you save the trees. You save the whole ecosystem,” says Rohit.

“For example, pretty much all the big rivers in India originate from some reserve or another. Right now, because of Project Tiger, about 75,000 square kilometers is set aside forever, which no one can ever touch or ever cut down a tree. So this is also a big safeguard that India has,” adds Kalyan.

The film also highlights the underbelly of Project Tiger, when tigers grow in number, the area that they view as their territory expands, making them sometimes come to the edge of the villages and towns. The film, say the makers, navigates the tough question of man-animal conflict by studying two major relatively recent incidents involving tigers T 24 in Ranthambore, Rajasthan and Avi in Tadoba, Maharashtra.

“These two incidents created a huge divide between people. For instance, when Avi was shot by the forest department, some celebrated with fire crackers and distributed sweets to everybody. But on the same day, there was a candlelight march in South Mumbai because some people were like, oh, how can you kill a tiger’. So we talked to forest officials and scientists to look at how to address this going forward,” says Kalyan.

Now, with people and organisations becoming more sensitive about climate issues, even industries traditionally known to exploit nature are understanding the need to sustain what we have and restore what we don’t have, say the filmmakers.

“The environment is number one for most companies when it comes to CSR funding these days. So, we’re definitely living in a world where environmental consciousness is really high,” says Kalyan.