Wild Dog Diaries is a wild life film portraying the behaviour of wild dogs (Cuon alpinus). The film was directed by the photographer duo of Krupakar-Senani and mainly picturised in the Bandipur National Park and the Mudumalai National Park of India.

Cast

The film is about a pack of dhole, the Indian wild dog. It is an endangered species and has been slaughtered till the end of the 20th century because it was considered as a vermin. Dholes live in the regions of Central Asia, India, Malay Peninsula and Sumatra and can live up to 16 years in captivity. They are mostly rusty-red in colour and inhabit thick jungles. They live and hunt in packs and feed on deer, antelope and similar animals.

Production

The film was produced for the National Geographic Channel and completed in the year 2006. It was shot over a period of 10 years . The shooting of the film was a difficult task because of the elusive nature of the dhole and the forest terrain. While shooting for this film, Krupakar-Senani were kidnapped and held captive by the forest brigand, Veerappan.

Story line

The film traces the life of Krupakar, a film maker who wants to make a film on dhole but is abandoning the venture because it is elusive. He encounters a tribal, Bomma, who gives insights about how to track the dhole. The film is about the social nature of a pack of dogs. The pack hunts together and various instances where they co-ordinate to kill a prey is shown. The meat that the adult dogs eat is regurgitated and the bones separated which is offered to the smaller pups as their meal. The film also shows how the adults protect the pups in the pack. Two female dogs which have strayed from another pack try to join this pack. The female leader of the pack, sensing that she might lose out on the male dogs in her pack, tries to prevent them from joining the pack. But the newcomers manage to lure away some males from the pack and start their own pack.

Awards

The film won the Festival Grand Award 2007 in the Japanese Wildlife Film Festival held in Toyama, Japan where it beat 320 other entries to win it. It also won the Best Film award in the environment film festival, Vatavaran 2007 held in New Delhi.The film won the best documentary film award in Asian television awards, Singapore 2007

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