THE FOREST a film by Ashvin Kumar

Tragic mis-declaration of man-eaters

2009-02-16T16:21:00.001+05:30

http://www.tehelka.com/story_main41.asp?filename=Op210209if_you.asp

THE FOREST a film by Ashvin Kumar: More directors notes

2008-12-15T12:53:00.000+05:30

THE FOREST a film by Ashvin Kumar: More directors notes

More directors notes

2008-12-15T12:00:00.001+05:30

Was asked to write a director's note for a film festival - I banged out something. Read it. Liked it. So here it is.

The tiger and leopard are highly endangered species. Their extinction, which is eminent, perhaps even within this decade, will mean the collapse of the eco-system that they are a vital part of, another victim of man’s potent imposition on the environment.

With THE FOREST my attempt was to make an entertaining film in which man is pitted against animal, and comes off the looser. His arrogance, his pettiness, his self-destructiveness against the purity, simplicity - humbling forces of nature.

We, as a species, left the natural world a long time ago. We have isolated ourselves in manicured conclaves and deprived ourselves of the facility of having to live in balance with these forces.

We are seeing climate change and devastation of the natural order on a planet-sized scale. And one fall out of that, the one I have chosen as my vehicle, alluding to this greater disaster, is the merciless culling of Indian wildlife.

There has been an alarming rise in man-eating leopards and man-animal conflicts in India. This is almost entirely due to man’s encroachment on the animal’s habitat. And it is an unnatural confrontation. Tigers and leopards don’t attack human beings out of choice or out of habit. Indeed, they are so shy and so perfectly camouflaged in their natural surroundings that it is difficult to spot them even in sanctuaries and national parks – anyone who has been on a safari in India will testify to that.

But if they are crippled and are rendered unable to hunt their food – the fleet footed deer or the powerful wild boar – they turn to weaker species in order to satisfy their hunger.

This brings them into human dwellings, closer to human beings.

But lets back up, what causes these animals to behave in this unnatural way?

Poaching, besides being one of the main causes of their decimation, is one of the main causes of injury to these animals; and for every cat that is successfully poached, who knows how many get away with serious injuries. A slow painful death follows, but not before they turn on us, human beings - the weakest animals in the jungle - to satisfy their hunger. It is said that once an animal tastes human flesh, it does not want to eat anything else. These animals are perfect killers, they come to understand our behaviour, they stalk us, and they learn fast. We become their prey and being perfect killers, they become very good at hunting us.

That is, till it become dangerous for unarmed and unprotected villages and their flock. And public pressure mounts to have these animals killed or captured. These animals are branded man-eaters and hunters are sent out, by the government, to officially dispatch them.

The tiger and leopard are awesome creatures, magnificent symbols of our jungles; as much our heritage as any other legacy.
We are exterminating our own history, in that sense, our living-breathing natural history. And only in times of great barbarity, or total breakdown of human society or eclipse of a civilization due to the rise of another, are such things done.

Hang on a second - barbarity, breakdown, eclipse?

Last I checked, we were one of the fastest growing economies in the world. And the largest democracy to boot. A society is judged by the height of its civilization.

To allow this destruction to take place in these times, at the early rise of India as a new world player is a blot that should irk the collective conscience.

This film is an alarm call for the big cats - our survival as a civilized species depends on it.

Ashvin Kumar - writer / director.

The Forest - a teaser

2008-12-11T16:10:00.000+05:30

Horrific images of leopard being trapped in a village

2008-12-08T14:34:00.001+05:30

Leopard kills child in Bombay

2008-12-08T14:32:00.000+05:30

Leopard and human conflict

2008-12-08T14:21:00.000+05:30

Nature strikes back when provoked, leopard mauls man

2008-12-08T14:17:00.000+05:30

Leopard Kills A Child From a Village in India

2008-12-08T14:14:00.000+05:30

From the Director -

2008-12-02T10:02:00.001+05:30

I had set some pretty unusual goals for the screenplay of The Forest - it had to be a thriller with a dramatic core that explores a psychological relationship, and the consequences of man's destruction of the environment. These are pretty disparate themes to weave into a single narrative, it pushes the envelope a bit.

Producer's Notes -

2008-12-02T09:50:00.000+05:30

Films made in Mexico, China, Iran regularly cross geo-political boundaries, giving the world a cinema that is universal in its themes, yet local in its treatment. We in India have the potential to do that and more but we’ve remained closely defined by our traditional industry. Now things are changing, I think it is a great time to be an independent film maker from India.

I’ve spent the last five years figuring out how the international movie business works and how to leverage the advantages of being in India. I used the production of Little Terrorist and Road To Ladakh, my first two short films, to practically implement some of these ideas.

Building up a foreign crew, doing international quality post-production out of India writing and producing in such a way that the film appeals to a global audience - we’ve done some pretty innovative things in the production of this film. I see us becoming an international craft-shop of technicians, talent and facilities, built up over films and artistic projects. A place where screen-writers, post production, scenography, special effects participate to produce excellence in cinema out of India.

I hope The Forest will show that it is possible to make a film of a certain quality, within a certain budget which, if pitched right, can be commercially successful in the markets of its choosing.

2008-12-02T09:10:00.000+05:30

I imagined the Kumaon of Jim Corbett and tried to recreate his spirit; those curled up nights reading his man-eater tales and the spell that his storytelling cast on me. The stalking of man-eater alone, on foot and the deep respect for his adversary came with the chilling awareness that on such a mission, the line between the hunter and the hunted would always be in his disfavor. Only someone who has stepped into the silky darkness of an Indian jungle on a moonless night can place into context what those exploits meant.

This film is about our inadequacies when confronted by the forces of nature and our frightening ignorance as to the effects of its disruption.

2008-12-02T08:58:00.000+05:30

The Forest is an entertaining thriller about human frailty
articulated through man’s conflict with nature.

It is my idea of popular cinema with a conscience.

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