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“Hundreds of false rumours of alleged attacks by the man-eater were brought to us, entailing endless miles of walking, but this was only to be expected, for in an area in which an established man-eater is operating everyone suspects their own shadows, and every sound heard at night is attributed to the man-eater.”... Jim Corbett
Well, when the topic is about Tigers & the occasion is World Tiger Day & a movie on a Man eater Tigress then who else’s but Jim’s quote could be there to start the sharing! Those innocent souls (god forgive them) who doesn’t knows this name i.e. Jim Corbett was British Indian who gave his life to save tigers from humans & in that process he had to kill a few tigers whom we the humans have tagged as man eaters. Unfortunately Jim Corbett is tagged with that forever i.e. Hunter of Man Eater Tigers, indeed he was master hunter of man eaters not just tigers but a few leopards also but more than that he was a wonderful human being, a person who has understood the specie named tiger better than anybody else because he has understood the forest in fullest!
Ok, now you know about Jim Corbett, so let’s come to our topic & it’s about a movie named Sherani which got released in recent 2021, got appreciated by critics (rare thing) though the lockdown has restricted reaching movie to the masses via theatres yet social media was abuzz with the reviews. It’s about a tigress’s real life incidence which became man-eater in eastern part of Maharashtra i.e. Vidarbha (you can consider as Central India) & a lady IFS officer who was in charge in that region where this man eater tigress Avani (real life name of the tigress) was roaming & has taken lives of many humans. Avani was killed (hunted also you can say) by a professional hunter after a search mission which went for nearly an year & over an area of approx 5000 sq km which included many villages, towns, farms & patches of forests. Before sharing about the movie, a bit about International Tiger Day.
Of late a lot has been written, shared, spoken about Tiger & whenever it’s about saving wild life, the tiger conservation aspect is always on front. No wonder who hasn’t seen a tiger in the wilderness won’t ever understand what beauty & magic this animal can add to any forest & our country is blessed with nearly 2/3rd of the world’s population of tigers making this land as their home! And let me tell you tigers are found in just thirteen countries & that too in the east or Far East part of the world i.e. Russia, China, India, Myanmar, Laos, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Bhutan. Now, one will say what’s big deal, why so much fuss over one animal which is found in just thirteen countries out of nearly one eighty countries, well then let me tell you cricket is also played hardly in thirteen countries at international level & do I need to tell you popularity of cricket in our country? Same logic is applicable here only thing the subject is tiger & like frantic fans of the game, most wild lifers also are fan of this specie which we call tiger & its importance for making people aware about the conservation of the wild life at large!
So by now most people (I mean conservationists & some govt personalities) all across the globe has understood role of tiger in wild life conservation & this is why when the authorities from the above 13 countries met a decade back in Russia for the first time to conserve the tiger population, that day was 29th July 2010 & is considered as International Tiger Day! For our country I must say thanks to our past rulers i.e. Hon Indira Gandhi who in 1977 declared few forests as Project Tiger & our present Prime Minister Mr Narendra Modi & his team is also is keen on making tiger live happily in the wilderness & it’s because of all their & every concerned person’s efforts we are the only country where tiger population has been growing which is very good sign for the forests! The good news ends here as the bad news is every year more than sixty tigers get killed due to humans in our country & that's a very sad as well dangerous sign for conservation of the tigers as well forests!
This is why International Tiger Day is observed on 29th July every year as the celebration is done on 29th July as a reminder of the agreement signed by countries in the Saint Petersburg Tiger Summit in Russia in 2010 to raise awareness about the decreasing tiger population globally. This year’s International Tiger Day 2021 theme is, “Their Survival is in our hands”. The importance of this day is to create awareness of the declining tiger population and conserving tigers globally. Observing World Tiger Day is also significant because, according to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), currently, there are only 4000 plus (or minus) wild tigers globally. From the beginning of the 20th century, around 95% of the tiger population has been lost in various activities like poaching. (This data is from official web sites). Despite efforts in conserving tigers from the year 1970’s, the tiger population showed a rapid decrease in number. Therefore in the year 2010, at the St. Petersburg Declaration, tiger range countries have resolved to double the number of tigers by 2022. As I mentioned earlier a tiger is called the “Umbrella Species” as their conservation also conserves many other species in the same habitat.
And on such a background a movie dedicated to a tigress officially declared as “man-eater” is a significant move on the front of wildlife awareness & I personally congratulate the team of Sherani movie & special thanks to director Amit Masurkar for giving everything to keep it realistic. Because often such kind of real life stories either tend to glorify one side of some character (classic example “Sanju” named recent movie, which did Rs 300 crore plus business) or end up in giving too much “gyan.com” i.e. overdose of philosophy. Here the Disney Pixar team scores over Bollywood as they wrap the script in such a way that the entertainment, reality & gyan all gets coated with wonderful presentation, unfortunately the last part is missing in Sherani but that’s ok. Right from the first shot of a forest guard team’s member mimicking a tiger walking in the forest to the end with the transfer of the lady officer in charge (needless to say non corrupt & with morals) the movie keeps you engaged. And those who have been to the forest to understand it (not to see just a tiger) will really appreciate the detailing of alarm calls in the forest of monkeys & deer when they sense the presence of a tiger around. As this is what was missing from all the earlier so called animal centric movies in Bollywood as either the animal is shown as villain or a hero, no midway & I often used to wonder why an animal be shown in our movies just the way it is? In this movie there is no dramatic entry of the man-eater tigress (remember the Jaws movie?), no special effects creation for her attacks on the humans has been used as the man-eater tigress easily roam in day light & is not afraid of humans, yet the panic & fear in the villagers has been captured perfectly, just the way Jim has described it!
Main aspect of the movie is the use of the man-eater tigress’s existence by every individual human being (read as character) for his or her purpose, this is where the movie scores above every other Bollywood such movies, is what I feel. Right from the lead role lady forest officer why she has joined the service of forest dept for her own cause & trying to give justice to the duty which is towards the wild life & not just towards the humans to the local politicians which as usual are busy using this tigress incidence for their vote bank to the media which usually prints for increasing their readership (or viewership) than the reality, everything hits us as we have been seeing this happening around all the time. Yes there is a Professor Hassan Noorani also who is keen on making people aware about tigers & their conservation, just like our wildlife conservationists around! And then for the first time (to my knowledge) here is a movie where not some IAS or IPS (Collector or SP) or an IRS service officer but IFS i.e. Indian Forest Services (not Indian Foreign Service) officer is in the lead role, that too of a lady! There have been few films in the past about wild life in India but except portraying the lead role officer which is usually a Hero & his gallantry nothing much has been shown in all these movies which will make people know about forests, conservation & life of forest officers. But then I can’t blame movie makers as they make movies to make money & not to show the audience reality, that's the job of the news media, right? And this is why Sherani should get applauds from wild lifers as well every nature lover that director Amit Masurkar has dared to show the people reality of wildlife conservation scene in our country & a hero or heroine need not always has to fight with some fifty odd people alone & beat them to dust not take on a tiger with bare hands & lock it up! Sherani movie once again shows us that a lead role can be a heroine also from unorthodox services like forests, though wearing a khaki but not using its power or of gun it comes along with & she has to fight with everyone including her people, her family & a times with her own self also yet keep doing her best for the duty & not for one animal or human or some post but as whole! There are some cinematic liberties like Sherani in Hindi is referred as Lioness & a tigress is called as Baghin but that’s ok I think as to make the movie title reach to masses such things can be overlooked!
As well, for the first time even the fear or anguish or ignorant attitude of the people (common man) about the tigress which is a man-eater has been captured perfectly. And who better than us, Indians can display such ignorance as may it be a man-eater tigress roaming around or a virus, taking care, following rules & showing discipline, all these are last on our agenda! At the same time the cameraman also has done wonderful job, from showing expressions on the faces of the people to capturing forest lands destruction due to so called our developments like copper mines, highways all these thing affecting or say making reason for making the said tigress man-eater, every single aspect of wild life’s current situation has been covered perfectly! The movie is an eye opener not for the system or govt or any particular class of the society but every person who is supposedly responsible to conserve the forests & that includes each of us!
The best part of the Sherani is there is no traditional villain in it; there are shades of villain in every character (except the tigress) as everyone is shown living with reality & convenience of his or her own. Even the heroine prefers to take a step back when she understands her boss is wrong & doing things which should not be done as that’s what happens in the system! As well the movie doesn’t draws any conclusion such as killing of the tigress is right or wrong as it easy to stay thousands of miles away from forests & write a column or share your opinion about saving a tigress which is a man-eater officially but to be part of the scene over such place & then act, well I don’t know how many of our lot could have been very clear at such times about right or wrong & stick to the right! Though Sherani definitely makes all those who know a bit of forest to check their course if they really want to save the tigers & definitely makes all those who haven’t been to the forests to think about it, that’s the best success of the movies is what I feel! On this International Tiger Day, most channels should play Sherani movie if not so at least all the parents must show their kids this movie on paid channels, as that could be the best tribute to the majestic animal & may there be many more such movies as cinema indeed is a powerful medium to make masses aware & Sherani proves this logic right, once again!
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Sanjay Deshpande
Sanjeevani Dev.
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