T R BIJUlAl, the mind behind India’s first official Save the Tiger feature film Mission Tiger spoke to Team Viva
As shown in filmy avtars in movies like Kaal, the tiger goes au natural in Mission Tiger, a movie based on the real life experiences of Indian Forest Service Officer T R Bijulal, who turns writer for the movie slated for release on International Tiger Day. Beginning from an incident of a man-eating tiger killing a woman in the Surai Forest range in Haldwani district to instances of poaching, the movie runs the gamut showing what actually happens inside the forests with a central theme of depicting man-animal conflict.
“The story is mine. During my training period a woman was killed by a man-eater tiger in Surai Forest range in Khatima of Haldwani district. I have also met a lot of forest officers,” shared T R Bijulal. It is the only save tiger movie based on real field experience in his own words. He went forward, “Aiming to increase awareness against poaching, the movie depicts undercover operations taken to stop poaching, the way the forest department does normally.”
Narrating incidents to his friend Director Dipu Karunakaran during a visit in Badrinath, Bijulal sparked the interest of the Kerala - based director, who then created the script and screenplay before beginning to make Mission Tiger in various phases. Incorporating shots with real animals and large amounts of stock scenes, overall shooting of the movie took place over a period of two to three years, shot extensively in Nainital.
“Shooting a wildlife movie is not that easy as you have to get permission from various government departments, forest departments and procure wildlife animal clearance, and these permissions take time,” explained Bijulal.
Monsoon Wedding fame Vijay Raaz played the lead along with other actors from National School of Drama, Delhi and from the Kerala film fraternity. The entire professional crew and shooting unit were also assembled from Kerala, homeland of both the director and Bijulal. “Maybe for the first time the world will come to know what mysterious operations are happening inside the forest,” expressed Bijulal.
Mission Tiger, having received blessings from Maharashtra Save the Tiger brand ambassador Amitabh Bachchan, is likely be released internationally in the first week of October known as Wildlife Week after dubbing in South Indian and International languages.