Under the children film series Ullas, Hindi movie Dost Magarmach was screened at Madhya Pradesh State Tribal Museum here on Thursday.

The movie is produced by Children Film Society of India (CFSI) and is directed by Romulus Whitaker. Notably, Romulus Whitaker was from New York and has settled in India as an Indian citizen.

He and his wife live in the outskirts of Madras running a Crocodile Bank as their primary activity.

Whitaker is an internationally acclaimed herpetologist noted for his pioneering work among snakes and crocodiles and the snake-catching Irula tribe in Tamil Nadu. ‘The Boy And The Crocodile’ is his first feature film.

The movie follows the life of Ramu and his crocodile friend. After a cyclonic storm lashes Tamil Nadu, a crocodile about to lay her eggs, finds refuge in a forest near a coastal village.

Ramu who lives in that village is considered strange because he loves animals and roams the forest to befriend them.

He discovers the pregnant crocodile and watches her prepare her nest and lay the eggs. He is enthralled by the tender care with which she looks after her young ones. When the scared villagers discover the crocodile, they try to kill her.

Ramu and his sister desperately try to save her without much success. Ramu fight the odds and suspecting villagers to save the crocodile and her children. This beautifully shot film inspires the love of nature and its inhabitants.

The movie won the Best Children Film Golden Elephant Award at the 6th International Children’s Film festival in 1989.