Documentary movie Treasures of Grasslands highlights the lesser-known Indian Wolf

A gaggle of nature fans and photographers from Pune, in fixed seek for new topics to doc within the wild, got here throughout the Indian Wolf within the lesser-known grasslands of Saswad, 30 km from the second-largest metropolis in Maharashtra, in 2009. What adopted was a decade lengthy documentation of the various fauna of the area that has resulted in a documentary movie titled Treasures of Grasslands. It has been doing the rounds of movie festivals in India, and was just lately screened on the All Living Things Environmental Film Festival.
“When we first started going to the grasslands, we captured the hyena on our cameras, which is a rare animal to spot in broad daylight. Soon after, we spotted the wolf. While initially we were only clicking photographs and had not thought of making a film; eventually, we started shooting videos to document its behaviour,” says Milind Raut, a advertising skilled primarily based in Pune, and one of many cinematographers of the movie.
When they began telling individuals concerning the presence of the species within the area, they realised that not many knew about it, even within the forest division. “Not many had seen the wolf and did not know the difference between it and a jackal. We used to show them photographs and they were in awe. The locals used to call it a baagh. Hence, we decided to make a film to spread awareness about the fauna in the region, as the impact of seeing a moving image is greater than seeing a still image. It’s a starting point for some efforts towards its conservation,” he mentioned.
Spotting their first wolf occurred at its personal time and tempo. “Someone told us there are 25 of them in an area, someone said 20, some told us to return at night. We continued with our recce to find the wolf. Then, on one of our regular outings, at a place where people had told us there used to be wolves but are no longer there, we unexpectedly saw a pair. This was during a trip when we were not actively finding one,” mentioned Raut. The Indian Wolf is a Schedule 1 Species underneath Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
The crew behind the Treasures of Grasslands.
The crew of eight, which has now grown to 14, needed to begin from scratch, as none of them had any prior expertise in filmmaking, modifying or manufacturing. “We assembled a crew among ourselves and started speaking to filmmakers and editors and picked up skills as we worked. Now everyone is well versed with the medium,” mentioned Mihir Godbole, a diamond jeweller, who’s the co-director of the movie.
Over the course of the final decade, they scourged the grasslands for all indicators of life and interacted extensively with the Dhangar group within the area. In the movie, we additionally meet the Indian fox, striped hyena, the jungle cat and black-naped hare, amongst others.
The movie additionally highlights how in 2016 the announcement of Purandar worldwide airport gave a lift to the true property tasks across the grasslands, which is an unprotected space. “They started working on these projects and fencing the area which was affecting the habitat. This further gave a purpose to our film. Grasslands are usually neglected and considered wastelands, that’s why we named it Treasures of Grasslands, as people are not aware of the rich fauna in these areas. “However, at the moment, the ecological assessment report is being prepared by the authorities and environmental lobbies are at work,” he mentioned.
The Indian Wolf is a Schedule 1 Species underneath Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
The first-time filmmakers mentioned that that they had added challenges on the sector, as in comparison with skilled filmmakers, as they had been working in a human-dominated habitat and with a restricted assist system. “Tracking animals is also tough as we can’t go regularly as we have our day jobs and when we return, the landscape changes along with animal routes. Our footage is shot over five to six years, unlike other filmmakers who shoot over a season. Moreover, the wildlife in this region is shy and nocturnal,” mentioned Godbole.
However, their movie has elevated the city-dwellers’ curiosity within the grasslands and its fauna. “Wildlife photography has found popularity in the last decade and people now want to discover lesser-known wildlife. After we started posting on social media, a lot of people have started visiting these areas, which has boosted the conservation cause that we’re aiming at. More people are talking about it. A decade ago only four to five vehicles were there and now on holidays and weekends, 20-30 vehicles are visiting these grasslands, which is good for awareness but again there should be some regulation,” mentioned Raut.

The Pune-based group, who’re on social media as The Grasslands Trust, have now translated the movie into Marathi which shall be screened for locals in Saswad and the small cities surrounding it. They’re additionally working smaller collection of movies that shall be shared on social media as “viewer attention is difficult to capture”.