Film trailers can be misleading. This statement holds true particularly in the context of Netflix’s latest documentary series, Our Planet. While the trailer shows stunning close-ups of the mightiest to the tiniest of wild animals, the series highlights the perils these animals are living with. Some of the heart-wrenching visuals from the series have already gone viral – like of walruses that tumbled off a cliff, and a baby flamingo in Africa that couldn’t keep up with the flock while fleeing from a dried-up salt pan, because salt had solidified around its feet.
While these scenes are too disturbing, in contrast, the vivid and beautiful imagery cannot be ignored. Among these sequences are sections – of elephants and the Great Hornbill – shot in India at the Kaziranga National Park, and Anamalai Forests. A part of the team that shot these visuals is from the Bengaluru-based Felis Creations, led by Sandesh Kadur, a well-known wildlife photographer and documentary filmmaker.
Showcasing the Great Hornbill
Kadur, who has worked with Jeff Wilson and his team — from the UK-based Silverback Films – on this section of the documentary series, says they wanted to showcase the Great Hornbill, and one of its striking behaviours. “All of us know that hornbills are magnificent forest birds that live in the canopy, and are very important seed dispersers. But we wanted to show more than just that.
So, we chose to film a particular behaviour that I had seen in a photograph, shot by my friend, Nachappa. I brought that to Jeff’s attention. He liked what he saw, we discussed the best season and time of the year to film it and went ahead,” reveals the filmmaker. The behaviour that he is referring to is ‘casque-butting’ when male hornbills engage in complex aerial manoeuvering and forcibly crash beaks to display dominance. This usually happens in the months of September/October.
Worth the wait
However, like most wildlife shoots, filming this sequence required a lot of patience, quick thinking and judgement. “We didn’t get any of the amazing behaviours until the last day, and it had been raining. Frustrated and empty-handed, some members of the team headed back to England. I too packed up and was ready to leave. Just then the weather changed. So, I decided to unpack all my gear, and got it all reassembled for filming. I was sitting atop a tower, when a dozen hornbills gathered on a dead tree trunk and began casque-butting vigorously. Then, they took flight and casque-butted in mid air. The shot we were after, was finally filmed,” reminisces Kadur.
Never too late
Many such remarkable sequences have been captured in this eight-part documentary series. While there are mixed views and opinions about the way the damage to our planet has been captured through this series, the makers have also highlighted that it isn’t too late to do something about it. “As you can see in the documentary Our Planet, there’s very little shown of the damages, although there’s a mention of
our effect on the planet. The visuals focus mainly on the beauty of nature and the narrative mentions its fragility. To learn more about what you can do to help contribute to conservation, ourplanet.com has more information,” says Kadur, who is currently working to wrap up a series on India’s Incredible Cats for National Geographic Wild.
As a production house, for Felis Creations, being a part of a Netflix documentary series was a huge achievement. Kadur signs off saying, “We started as a small media company, and it’s mainstay was making documentaries for traditional broadcasters like the BBC and National Geographic. But in the last two years, things have changed rapidly, and Netflix has become the ultimate platform, because it has the ability to reach out to audiences across the world.”
Our Planet streams on Netflix