HYDERABAD: At dawn in the windswept grasslands of Ramnathgudpalle in Vikarabad district, a lone fox cautiously steps out of his den. Survival here is counted not in years, but in days — finding food, guarding three pups, evading predators and negotiating an increasingly hostile human presence. This fragile rhythm of existence forms the heart of Indian Fox - Fighting Habitat Loss, touted to be Telangana’s first Telugu wildlife documentary devoted entirely to grassland ecosystems.
Directed by Chinnaboina Pradeep Kumar, the film stays with the quiet, often unseen routines of the fox’s everyday life. “We wanted to show one day in the life of an Indian fox — how he raises his pups, struggles to survive and silently coexists with people who depend on grasslands,” the director tells the TNIE. Shot over three years, the documentary follows a single male fox and his three offspring, turning a frequently overlooked animal into a powerful symbol of a disappearing ecosystem.
The project began as a broader attempt to document Telangana’s grasslands and those across the Telugu states. Gradually, it narrowed its focus to the species that rely entirely on these landscapes. The Indian fox emerged naturally at the centre of the story: nearly 95% of its population in India inhabits grasslands, making the species acutely vulnerable to their decline.
Threats are constant. Free-ranging dogs pose a deadly risk to pups, while non-local human activity — driven by real estate, industry and mining — steadily eats into open grasslands. Still widely mislabelled as ‘wastelands’, these habitats are routinely diverted for development, pushing species like the Indian fox closer to local extinction.
Filming tested both patience and resolve. Grasslands transform dramatically with the seasons — lush and green between June and August, then dry and brown from October, when tracking becomes especially difficult. Winning the fox’s trust took nearly six months, as the animal slowly learned that the camera crew posed no threat.
With no sponsors, the film was entirely self-funded. The team travelled to the site three days a week for three years, carrying their own equipment to maintain visual continuity. “There were moments we thought of stopping,” Pradeep Kumar admits. “I had suffered losses in a cloud kitchen business. But I never backed down.”
Ramnathgudpalle also supports blackbucks, Indian wolves and a rich diversity of resident and migratory birds. Yet its ecological value, like that of grasslands across India, remains underestimated. “Since the British era, grasslands have been wrongly classified as wastelands,” Pradeep Kumar says. “That mindset still continues, making them easy targets for so-called development.”
Protecting grasslands, he argues, is as critical as conserving forests — particularly in the semi-arid Telugu states.
Choosing Telugu as the primary language was deliberate. “The first people who need to be sensitised are locals,” he says. “These grasslands are used by cattle grazers. They must know that animals like the Indian fox live alongside them and help maintain balance.”
Hindi and English versions are planned to reach wider audiences, while an extended cut will include voices of grassland-dependent residents.
Narrated by actor Navadeep, the documentary has drawn appreciation from conservationists, forest officials and public representatives. Music is by Rajeev Raj. The film is produced by VWOLFS Foundation and Wild Telangana, with wildlife expert Pranay Juvvadi as project advisor.