The tiger’s eye
A young tigress named Ambar, who has reared four pups, lives in the center of India’s verdant jungles. She shielded them from bears, pythons, and male tigers among other natural predators while teaching them survival techniques for the forest. In Tiger, co-directors Vanessa Berlowitz and Rob Sullivan, together with director Mark Linfield, navigate the lives of these tigers in ambush.
After 1,500 days of shooting, the Disney+ Hotstar documentary is presented by Priyanka Chopra Jonas. When the idea was offered to them, did they say yes right away? Not really. Lin recalls that the trip began about fifteen years ago. Disney had just begun producing feature-length animal programs at the time, and one of the first movies we were requested to shoot was on tigers. After filming many episodes on tigers, Vanessa and I declared, “No way, it’s too hard.” It’s challenging to distill 75 minutes of intense action, drama, and narrative from tiger behavior. We parked it after that and continued to create movies on bears, chimps, monkeys, elephants, and other animals, according to Linfield.
Indian forest environmentalists approached the husband and wife team six years later to discuss remaking a tiger film. The heavens opened and they
had a wonderful tale about a tigress and her pups. In order to find out whether the channel was still interested in doing a large cat movie, Linfield and Berlowitz got in touch with it. The answer was definitely yes.
That marked the start of the six-year documentary filming process, which was overseen by Linfield, Berlowitz, and Roy Conli in between the two COVID-19 waves. Berlowitz adds his voice, expressing the thrill and difficulties they had while creating the performance. With 1,500 filming days distributed over almost five years, the documentary was completed in more than six years. It was a labor of love despite significant challenges, the woman claims. Because large cats are so elusive, shooting them may be difficult. The native guides who assisted Linfield and Berlowitz in fully capturing the creatures are credited. Because they typically sleep for two thirds of the day, tigers are very hard. They often hide behind vegetation while they’re not sleeping. They’re often [deep in] the forest, far away from the road. We would have gotten nowhere without the wonderful native Indian guides and specialists. Our guides were our only source of support; they had an antenna for the regal animals. We also received help from the Forest Service. Although tigers are elusive and secretive, human life was not in danger, according to Berlowitz. “We complied with every forest regulation. Since they are dangerous predators, you should remain in your car.
Much of it, according to Linfield, would not have been conceivable without gyro-stabilized high magnification telephoto lenses. We used them from a car, which had the ability to catch animals up to a thousand millimeters away. It would be possible to record a tiger both walking and driving. Those [areas] have poor quality roads. We get really smooth photos with these high-lens gyro-stable cameras. Many of the track images you’ll see are of tigers being gradually tracked from great distances. We were greatly assisted by technology. That wasn’t there the first time we shot tigers [decades ago]. We used to ride in the back of a jeep or a truck. From one perspective, we may get a glimpse of a tiger, but it would disappear in an instant.
Tiger not only depicts the fascinating lifestyles of these endangered species, but it also demonstrates how India’s conservation efforts have been very successful. “From a thousand and a half in 2006 to over three thousand, their numbers have increased. Thus, the forest department takes pleasure in its work, according to Berlowitz. There are now 55 protected places in India that are known as tiger reserves. India is home to 3,682 wild tigers as of 2023, making up about 75% of all wild tigers worldwide.
An accompanying program, Tigers on the Rise, provides information on India’s conservation initiatives. It expressly highlights India’s outstanding efforts with regard to its tigers. Your tigers are unquestionably one of the best conservation success stories in the world right now, Linfield continues.
