- Richie Mehta, director and writer of the recent web series ‘Poacher’, talks to Mongabay-India about what it takes to bring a wildlife crime story to the screens.
- ‘Poacher’ is an eight-episode crime drama series, based on real life incidents of elephant poaching for ivory trade and the efforts by officials to track down the poachers.
- Mehta discusses candidly about shooting for ‘Poacher’ in the jungle, addressing human-wildlife conflict, environmental narratives and more.
In an episode of Richie Mehta’s recent web series Poacher, the protagonist Mala Jogi, a forest officer, is accompanied by her colleague Vijay Babu, and an ivory poacher’s relative Yadu, on a car ride to track down a poacher. Yadu asks Jogi, “So, a few elephants died. Why are you all so bothered?” To this, Mala Jogi replies, “They (elephants) are the engineers of the forest…If they die out the jungle will saturate, stop growing and every living thing in it will perish.” Yadu retaliates, “And what about my sister? The elephants steal all of her crops. Even after harvest, she barely has enough to feed her family…”
Human-elephant conflict is a complex issue and it is rare for a mainstream drama series to highlight it. Mehta opens up, “Human-wildlife conflict is such a big issue worldwide, and yet, it may not be something an audience looking for a thrill-ride, wants to address on a Saturday night. But I can still sneak the issue in, as best I can.”
Poacher is an eight-episode multilingual crime drama series based on real-life incidents of elephant poaching for ivory and the operation carried out by the Kerala Forest Department and the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau with the support of the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) and the police, to track down the poachers. The writer and director Richie Mehta talks to Mongabay-India about the research involved in directing a wildlife-crime thriller, the visual choices and trends in environmental filmmaking.
‘I just had to transcribe what was in my mind’s eye’
When Mehta learnt about the real-life elephant poaching case, he primed himself by meeting with the wildlife crime fighters who tackled this investigation – officials from the Kerala Forest Department and staff with the Wildlife Trust of India. Each meeting would yield a new story, a new aspect of the case that intrigued him more. The research period lasted for two whole years and involved multiple trips to Kerala to meet the Forest Department officials, as well as trips to Delhi, and beyond, to meet WTI staff and other wildlife experts. It also involved trips into various national parks and forest reserves, says Mehta.
“I also met the now-deceased poacher who confessed at the onset of this case while turning himself in several times, in clandestine encounters. All this knowledge was key in shaping the scripts. I could see the episodes forming in my head, as the real subjects relayed various stories… I could literally see the drama unfold as I was told these incidents and I just had to transcribe what was in my mind’s eye,” he explains.
Mala Jogi’s character is an amalgamation of many officials that Mehta met during his research. In the series, Jogi is seen as a fierce wildlife warrior who is fixated on catching the poachers, as she is atoning for the sins of her father who was once a hunter.
“Her (Jogi’s) backstory is inspired by many conservationists I met in that environment, who come from traditional hunting families who never paid attention to the ethics of the situation and habitually hunted. And one day that activity became illegal (in their eyes it was sudden) and they were outlaws. But the idea behind Mala’s desire to counter this, existed in many people I met and served as a very unique and forceful motivation – it was something I could not ignore, and also separates urban conservationists from rural ones.”
Watch: Interview with Kartiki Gonsalves, director of Elephant Whisperers
A vision about the visuals
The series focuses on the wildlife crime fighters and their journey to apprehend the poachers. The characters speak in Malayalam, English, Hindi and Bengali and travel to different cities and locations. So, watching Poacher feels like being a part of the investigation, as if we, the viewers, were storming into places during raids, entering and exiting offices, or traversing through the jungle.
While shooting in these locations, the team did brave some challenges. “Working in a jungle where it rained daily in pre-monsoon events meant that we would have to vacate before the rains hit, which severely reduced our shooting time inside that environment. I was also adamant about maintaining as low an impact as possible. So, it meant shooting swiftly, with minimal crew in those places. We were in ecosystems that had many predators, as well as lethal reptiles and insects. We had to be cognisant about health and safety and know precisely what our plan was each day, each moment. But it seems we had a very positive relationship with our surroundings, as the forest was extremely forgiving to us in the end,” Mehta reveals.
Through the first five episodes of Poacher, one anticipates the visuals of wild elephants in the forest. But this happens unexpectedly in the sixth episode, when an elephant herd appears from behind thick trees. Indistinguishable from real elephants, the computer-generated images of the mammal camouflage perfectly in the dark forests. The wild elephants reveal themselves in the forest for the first time when the characters in the series enter their home – some with the aim of harming them (the poachers) and some with the aim of conserving them (the forest department officials).
“The computer-generated images were conceived of from day one. I would never shoot with captive animals in an attempt to showcase the incredible biodiversity of the Kerala forests, while discussing themes of allowing wild animals to remain wild. That involved planning and storyboarding from day one, and working closely with MPC, the visual effects house based in Mumbai/Bangalore, to ensure the accuracy of those animals – mostly charismatic species. The overall tone/feel of the series was designed by my HODs and I; particularly cinematographer/camera operator Johan Aidt and myself.”
Other animals and coexistence
The Asian elephant is not the only species that features in Poacher. Leafbird, Malabar pied hornbill, common krait, macaques, Bengal tiger, Indian civet, Indian peafowl, golden jackal, leopard, lesser whistling duck, owls, the Indian flying fox, spotted deer, white-rumped vultures, sloth bears, fireflies, Indian rock python, grey slender loris and many other species play cameos. While human-wildlife interactions are often associated with mammals and humans living in the fringes of forests and other protected areas, Poacher firmly reminds us about urban wildlife and vulnerable species that we coexist with, such as the Nilgiri marten.
“My favourite animal shot is a close up of a vulture in mid-flight, circling a camp in the forest below. I feel it’s something no human being has ever seen, and to recreate it, so high up, and in such detail, it takes my breath away every time I see it,” Mehta says, while talking about his two favourite shots in the series.
“And my favourite human shot is the last shot of the series, of Mala’s face, in reaction to another thing a few, if any humans have ever seen.” In this scene Mala Jogi is rapt as she watches a herd of elephants gathering around an elephant carcass. This elephant was hunted by the poachers for the ivory trade.
Striking a balance
The protagonists of Poacher, including Jogi, are vigilantes who strive hard to conserve wildlife. However, there are also lapses on the side of the forest department in not efficiently monitoring important ivory trade routes/hunting areas. The series also points out the systemic corruption that doesn’t get the potential end buyers of ivory products into the investigation.
When asked about the challenges in roping these perspectives together in the storytelling, Mehta responds, “It was all inspired by truth…When I meet and get to know high level officials who explain how a sustained poaching event like this can happen, I relay those explanations precisely. I was so inspired by the people I met in the field, that I wanted to convey their exploits, their achievements, and alongside that, their personal and professional challenges.”
With respect to Poacher, Mehta felt a need to tell the story. He opines that there was limited entertainment that dealt with wildlife crime, although there were documentaries on the subject.
“I felt that there was an entire audience out there that had no idea about this world of wildlife crime, and as a result, didn’t understand the stakes behind it… By and large this is in the documentary space. My hope is to bring the messaging about tipping points in terms of ecosystem preservation and species extinction, to the drama space, through a more aspirational adventure, that surely most viewers have never witnessed before.”
Read more: [Interview] “For Sherni we used academic rigour to study the topic of conservation”
Banner image: Richie Mehta shares that he was adamant about maintaining as low an impact as possible while shooting in the jungle for his web series Poacher. Photo from Richie Mehta.