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Visual treat of Silent Valley National Park

— Photo: Special Arrangement

Feast to eyes: A view of the Silent Valley.

CHENNAI: Nature lovers and trekkers could look forward to a visual treat of the famous Silent Valley National Park in Kerala.

In an attempt to mark the 25th anniversary of the declaration of Silent Valley rain forests a national park, Chennai-based wildlife and conservation film maker Shekar Dattatri has produced a 24-minute documentary, highlighting the vital necessity of protecting such forests.

Titled ‘Save Our Sholas’ the film narrated by celebrated conservationist Valmik Thapar showcases the rich biodiversity and the problems faced by this fragile ecosystem. It also emphasises the immense water harvesting capacity of these forests and underlines the fact that all the major rivers of the peninsular India originate in the Western Ghats.

Almost two decades ago, Mr. Dattatri and his colleagues produced one of the first-ever natural history films on this area. The 50-minute film, ‘Silent Valley – An Indian Rainforest’ became an instant hit , bagging two national awards and half a dozen international awards at wildlife film festivals in USA, Japan, Italy and other countries.

The new documentary produced by the Trust for Environmental Education draws upon the sequences from the earlier film, but also contains new material shot by Mr. Dattatri and Thiruvananthapuram-based natural history film maker Suresh Elamon. The Centre for Media Studies, New Delhi, has selected the film for its ‘Greening Young Minds’ project and will distribute it to 10,000 schools across the country, Mr. Dattatri said.

The film has won a technical excellence award for best story at the recently concluded Vatavaran Environment and Wildlife Film Festival in New Delhi. The film, which was supported by SPEC India and ENDURO India, is now available in English and Hindi. Plans are also afoot to make Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Marathi versions early next year.

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