Shores of Silence - Whale sharks in India

Winner of the Worlds most Prestigious Award the GREEN OSCAR / PANDA AWARD at the Wildscreen Festival, in Bristol, UK in 2000 and winner of numerous other national and international awards.

Shores of Silence is the first Indian film to focus on a large marine species. This is the first ever documentation of the massacre of whale sharks on the Indian coast.

The film is an effort to create awareness and gather support to protect and conserve this species. The aim is to eventually help create policies to ban whale shark trade in India and find sustainable alternatives for the local fishing community.

This film moved the government of India into bringing in legislation and banning the killing of the Whale Sharks on Indian shores. The Whale Shark was declared protected under the Indian Wildlife Act- 1972, bringing it at par with the tigers and the Rhino.

This was a landmark move. It was the first marine species to be protected under the Indian law.

In November 2002, at the international CITES meet in Chile, Santiago, a negative voting changed into an overwhelming positive after this film was shown to the delegates - bringing global protection of the Whale Shark and giving the largest fish in the world a new lease of life.

The Film has also been successful in bringing about change in the attitude of fisher folk.

The Last Migration - Wild Elephant Capture In Sarguja

This film was the first Asian film to win the world’s most prestigious award – The Green Oscar - Panda Award at the Wildscreen, 1994. It subsequently went on to win seven other international awards.

The Last Migration depicts a 42-day wild elephant capture operation in Madhya Pradesh, India.

Driven out of their home range in Bihar, due to excessive deforestation; a herd of wild elephants migrated to eastern Madhya Pradesh 300 kms away; where the sterile teak plantations, devoid of diversity, could not sustain the herd. Desperate for sustenance they went on a rampage and created havoc amidst the terrified tribals of the remote district of Sarguja – where elephants in the wild have been unheard of, for more than a century. Since 1988, 45 people had been killed by the herd and unabated devastation of their fields and homes left the villages bereft of their livelihood. The herd was finally captured in 1993.

The film portrays the man-animal conflict and its repercussions; the tussle between the ancient pachyderm and the tribals of the forest, which is a manifestation of a deeper and more vicious cycle; the disruption of the balance in Nature, on which rests the harmony of existence - the devastation of this critical framework, by mankind's relentless and unsustainable obsession with power and development.

Last Migration led to the establishment of Elephant Foundation-India

Vanishing Giants

 Winner of the Panda or Green Oscar Award at Wildscreen 2004.

The brutal capture, torture and subsequent death of a young tusker in a capture operation authorized by the government prompted Mike Pandey to stop filming his documentary on ‘Elephants in Crisis’ and turn it into a news feature.

This news feature exposes the cruel and archaic methods of capture being used with no concern for the animal, a protected and endangered species.

The news feature is a protest and demand for immediate cessation of capture of elephants in this brutal way and a call for policy changes if elephants are to be protected.

Within 3 days of the release of this news feature the Government of India suspended all capture of wild elephants. Individuals in charge of the botched capture operation were suspended.

The news created international outrage International news agencies picked it and activists from all over the world joined in triggering a global signature campaign.

In India changes in policies and rules were made at a national level ensuring that all future captures take place with modern facilities and in the presence of experts to avoid trauma and cruelty after capture. Elephant welfare became top priority.

Earth Matters

Earth Matters is a series produced by Riverbank Studios for Doordarshan, India’s National Television Network.

The series takes a hard look at the environment in the country. Pollution in urban area, pressures on rural India, the stress on natural resources, the impact of unthinking human development on India’s wildlife and forests.

Earth Matters does this not by blaming the government or any one faction for India’s environmental troubles rather the programme’s philosophy is based on alerting the individual, examining his/her part in the concerned issue and in forming part of the solution.

The series is anchored by wildlife filmmaker Mike Pandey and his colleague Shibani Chaudhury.

Broadcast in both English and Hindi, it is extremely relevant to millions of viewers in India and other countries in the region. The series has received an overwhelming response from remote villages in far flung corners of India as well as from viewers as far off as Saudi Arabia and North Africa.

International Awards Received

Earth Matters has won four prestigious International Awards.

1. 'Shores of Silence - whale sharks in India' won The Commonwealth Broadcasting Association Award, U.K., - 2002

2. 'Global Warming' won the Best Magazine programme Award at 18th International Television Science Awards, Paris - 2001

3. 'Noise pollution' won the Chinese award.4.'Oceans' won the Portugal Film Festival – 2001

Honey Hunter Of The Blue Mountains

One of the last havens of untouched forest land – the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve in south India is home to the deadly rock bee the Apis Dorsata. Just before the monsoon, the honey gatherers, Kurumba tribals of the Nilgiris prepare for their yearly harvest of honey, scaling precipitous cliffs to collect the treasure of the wild Apis Dorsata.

Dramatic sequences of honey gathering off 300 foot cliffs leave you spellbound by their agility and fearlessness.

The collector spiders down the sheer cliffs supported by a ladder woven out of forest vine.

As filmmakers our biggest challenge was to capture this sequence effectively, since the kurumbas would not permit outsiders to suspend themselves on their chosen cliffs. The only way to get extraordinary angles was to climb atop and reach over the edge of the cliffs or position ourselves directly below the hives. Rigorous, as each time we were right in the midst of the bee storm.

The first film to have documented their way of living ‘Honey Hunters Of The Blue Mountains’ was very well received at the International Bee Keeping Conference Api Mondia in Vancouver, Canada in November 1999.

Kalpavriksha – Legacy Of Forests

This film traces the evolution and discovery of medicinal plants and tribal wisdom in India to show how historically and culturally they have been an integral part of India.

About 80% of the developing world still relies on age-old medicinal practices based on the curative properties of plants found in the area.

Today, the modern world is moving towards these traditional practices creating a phenomenal demand for medicinal plants. Strangely, the bulk of the plants traded are gathered from ‘wild’ forest sources - very few species are cultivated. This created a major stress on natural resources – some Himalayan species are already close to extinction due to this dangerous trend.

India is one of the richest bio-diversity hotspots in the world, supporting over 45,000 species of plants both agricultural and medicinal.

The film explores and brings out the essence of the interdependence and way of living of tribal communities that have since time immemorial depended on the forest for all their needs, including healing purposes. It looks into the philosophy of traditional medicinal practices and discusses what further steps and measures are required to conserve and protect the medicinal heritage that is ours.