Filmmakers partly responsible for disinterest in documentaries: ‘Wild Karnataka’ co-director

Team Udayavani, Jun 9, 2020, 6:42 PM IST

New Delhi: In the digital age when content viewing has evolved drastically, documentaries still find it difficult to reach out to the masses as filmmakers don’t keep the audiences in mind, says “Wild Karnataka” co-director Amoghavarsha JS.

“Wild Karnataka”, also directed by Kalyan Varma, was the first wildlife documentary to get a wide theatrical release in PVR theatres across Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Kochi and other two-tier cities in January.

“As documentary filmmakers, I think we are also partly to be blamed for less viewership because mostly we are in this in sort of mindset where we are curious and want to take the idea in its purity. But often we don’t have empathy towards our audience,” Amogha, an engineer-turned-wildlife photographer and filmmaker, told PTI.

“For ‘Wild Karnataka’ we kept the audience in mind and the results are amazing. What I believe is, if as filmmakers one’s main focus becomes that audiences should enjoy it, the messaging automatically follows through,” he added.

Kalyan, who also left his job as an engineer to pursue wildlife photography and filmmaking, said the response to their film proves that people will make an effort and buy tickets if they are served quality content.

“We never expected a wildlife documentary to do so well in India. To have a sort of theatrical release here and then over a million views on the trailer, it has been an amazing journey. It’s a validation that people in India want to know about the biodiversity of our country,” he added.

The documentary, which premiered on streaming platform Discovery Plus last week, is produced by Amogha and Kalyan along with naturalist Sarath Champati and Indian Forest Officer Vijay Mohan Raj, in collaboration with the Karnataka Forest Department, Icon Films and Mudskipper.