An ‘unfrogettable’ experience
BENGALURU: What began as a documentary of the changing landscapes in the Western Ghats, evolved into something that could potentially save frogs. The misconception is that a lot of frogs are alive, however, the unfortunate reality is that the number of frogs in India decreases every day, because of negligent driving, modernisation, and the illegal frog trade.
“Frogs are the main aspect of the monsoon and in some sense, they are the representation of monsoons,” says Pradeep Hegde, co-director of the film, The Last Hop(e). The film garnered a range of audiences during its screening at Ranga Shankara recently. Hegde says, “We heard about the illegal frog trade when we were trying to film bullfrogs changing colour…a lot of these frogs are caught from Karnataka and illegally traded to Goa for tourists, as a delicacy.
We started looking for people who work towards helping them, and that’s how we heard about Clinton.” Clinton Vaz and C R Naik, who are featured in the film, also work towards saving frogs by teaching students about them. This, the directors say, inspired them to create this story and put it out there for people to watch. “We thought that this is a story that needs to be told. It is so inspiring that it inspired us also,” says Hegde.
Dheeraj Aithal adds, “Only after three monsoon sessions, during our last day of filming, did we come across this phenomenon [how 35 frogs get killed on the road due to speeding]. When you’re driving a car at a speed of 70-80 km/h, most people will not see the frogs and end up running across black frogs on the road. That sequence moved people who watched it in the screenings.”
Initially, the three-year-long ‘passion project’ was completely self-funded, but when they realised that having equipment of their own would be more helpful , they started crowdfunding. Hegde says, “When you hear about wildlife films, it is generally about tigers and elephants. We are very thankful to those who believed in our story about a little frog and funded the film…this gave us a lot of confidence and strength to go forward. We have given the facts and shown what is happening. It is for the viewers to decide what to do with it.”