Techie strives for vulture's cause

Documentary

With no status available of vultures, the highly endangered scavenger birds, are fast falling prey to diclofenac- a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug and a pain killer widely used in treatment of livestock. Even when the appeal to ban the drug is still being debated, Neloy has begun the crusade against the drug through his film.

An employee with a private firm, Neloy moved into the City five years ago. A keen bird watcher, he was moved by the plight of vultures and decided to educate people about their significance and harmful effect of diclofenac on them. “Vultures are our friends. They serve mankind. Their decline is man-made. If we stop using this drug they can survive,” he said.

Neloy, who began with photography using a still camera that had a video option, decided to film vultures and took one year to complete the task.

Touring all over the country for potential vulture sites he visited places like Hati Daggar in Uttarakhand, Corbett National Park and places around River Betwa near Jhansi in Madhya Pradesh, Pinjore in Haryana and Ramadevara Betta in Karnataka, the film-maker studied carefully and found that if no action is taken to prevent this drug, the species will be wiped out.

“I sighted almost all the vultures like long-billed vultures, sand grippen, white backed vultures and slender-billed vulture. Among them slender-billed is almost extinct,” he said.
With the film ready for screening, Neloy now plans to visit key places where the birds still breed and screen it there to educate farmers.

He is also planning to distribute some of the DVDs free to NGOs and media, while the  remaining will be reasonably priced so that he can recover a part of the cost of making the film.

He is even planning to dub the film into Kannada.