Five Questions for Filmmakers: The Tiger Who Crossed the Line

We reached out to our festival filmmakers to ask them questions about the experience of making their films.

The Tiger Who Crossed the Line - Finalist Trailer - Local Voices from Jackson Hole WILD on Vimeo.

​What inspired this story?

Some 10 years ago a villager, whose farm was close to a tiger reserve in Central India, had told me that if you want to film tigers you should come to my farm instead of trying to find a needle in a haystack in the reserve. I was intrigued and explored this story of tigers outside the reserves for many years before I decided to make a film on it.

Were there any surprising or meaningful experiences you want to share?
​
I saw many positives in the conservation of tigers by individual’s vision and dedication. I met intrepid low level forest staff, walking to track the tigers 24X7 which in itself is a life risk business.

Photo courtesy of The Tiger Who Crossed the Line

What impact do you hope this film will have?

There is little consciousness and information about the tigers who live outside the reserves.  Even their numbers are not fully known. This film has already sparked an interest and an inquiry in the media and among the lay audience.

​Describe some of the challenges faced while making this film.

​Since tracking tigers outside is a task fret with uncertainties and risks of no protection and no information and infrastructure, it was always a road to adventure. For the first time we captured the secret lives of tigers on night vision camera outside any reserve. With villagers for our guides we would track a tiger on a cattle hunt, sit by it to film our tigers, etc. Sometimes the tigers would be close by growling to warn us and alert us of its presence!

Photo courtesy of The Tiger Who Crossed the Line

What drove you as a filmmaker to focus on the big cat species?

​Though in a web of life, each animal is as important as the other and the tiger even as the top predator is not more important than a warbler. But the tiger is a great story teller. People are willing to listen to the tiger’s story…..and along with that we can slip in the warbler story, the story of coal mining grabbing forest land, the neglect of the policy maker to focus on the outside which maybe almost as bio diverse as the inside. So through the tiger the narratives can be all encompassing and can build a great conservation dialogue. ​