Hope we see more films on wildlife: Amoghavarsha

Elated after his wildlife documentary clinched two National Awards on Monday, ‘Wild Karnataka’ director Amoghavarsha dedicated the honour to the State.

“To be recognised by the government and receive such an honour is a great validation for our effort. The audience had already accepted it and showered us with lot of appreciation. We can’t think of a better celebration. The award, in fact, goes to all of us in Karnataka and our forest department, for preserving wildlife. We were just catalyst to show how beautiful our State is,” Amoghavarsha, who co-directed the film with Kalyan Varma, told DH.

Celebrated broadcaster and natural historian Sir David Attenborough was declared the Best Narrator/Voice-over artist for the documentary. “We went to London to record his voice. We spent a couple of hours with him in the studio. He loved the movie. He was so quick and fast with the whole thing. I can’t believe it happened. It was an unimaginable feeling to listen to him read the script,” he recollected.

Talking about the the efforts of his team, the Bengaluru-based filmmaker said, “We wanted to show as many species and animals as possible. We didn’t want to just focus on the big animals. We thought our own backyard wasn’t depicted well in films and media. After so many years of hard work, it’s fantastic to see people recognise."

The documentary, which enjoyed a 50-day run in theatres in 2019, is streaming on the Discovery Channel. “This is probably the first wildlife film to be shown in theatres. It ran for 50 days, which is a feat by itself. It means that if there is good content, people will watch on the big screen. It’s done very well on Discovery Plus. It’s one of the most-watched series of 2020 on Discovery,” he explained.