Conservation of wildlife is increasingly becoming the need of the hour, and a lot of filmmakers are taking it upon themselves to support the cause of protecting animals. Delhi-based wildlife enthusiast Navin Raheja is one such filmmaker, who is the man behind Wilderness Day, a television show on Epic Channel, hosted by the late Tom Alter.
The filming for the show started in 2014 and ended before the demise of Alter in 2017. The show takes people to ground zero, where animals like lions, elephants, tigers and even rhinoceros’ and bears, can be seen in the most unhindered natural form. Pursuing wildlife filmmaking as a passion for over 40 years, Navin’s Raheja Productions, through the show takes, on the cause not for specific animals alone, but the jungle entirely, instead.“The show is an attempt to make people aware about wildlife so as to help reduce man-animal conflict, while also stressing about the impact they have on our lives”, says 62-year-old.
“Experiencing wilderness or even a wildlife sanctuary first-hand gives me a lot of joy,” he says, adding, “Unlike other filmmakers, I did not shortlist the animals or follow a planned schedule but instead filmed them in their natural habitat.”
The episodes have been filmed across various locations including Kanha National Park and Bandhavgarh National Park in Madhya Pradesh as well as Ranthambore National Park in Rajasthan. However, filming wildlife is never easy and there are many challenges, Navin tells us. Since the animals give you just one chance to get a great shot, he and his team have had to spend several nights in the deep forests, without moving for long hours. He recounts one particular incident in Uttarakhand, where he was filming an operation to catch a killer rogue elephant, and it was the toughest because they were in the radar of the animal.
Being a former Member of Project Tiger’s Steering Committee, under the Ministry of Environment and Forests, conservation has always been on Navin’s mind. While there is a great attempt being made to protect tigers, Navin says leopards are often ignored and are considered dangerous. Wilderness Days, however, is a 26-episode season which explores the life of leopards in the wild, apart from the life-changing story of poachers who turned protectors.
Wilderness Day airs every Friday at 10.30 pm on Epic Channel