Poacher has received unanimous praise from critics and viewers since its release on Prime Video last week. This eight-episode feature series marks director Richie Mehta’s first return since the International Emmy Award-winning drama Delhi Crime. Based on a true story, this stunning show takes place in the jungles of Kerala and follows a team of dedicated forest rangers and others as they investigate the illegal ivory trade.
In an exclusive interview with Hindustan Times, creator Richie Mehta and actors Roshan Mathew (Alan Joseph) and Divyendu Bhattacharya (Kerala Forest Department Field Superintendent Neel Banerjee) dig into the process. We talked. About their approach to this important story, filming on location, and the impact this experience had on them. (Also read: Poacher Review: Richie Mehta tells a great atmospheric story about the illegal ivory trade)
Congratulations to the poacher. I first saw three episodes of the film at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, where it ended on a cliffhanger. I’ve been wondering when it would be released, and now it’s here. What was happening during that time?
Roshan:For us, it’s been two years since we finished filming! (lol)
Richie: Yes, almost. I’ll tell you what happened. It was the animals. His first three episodes of Animals had finished, but the rest were not yet finished at that point. It took time, and as you can see, it took work, and it had to be perfect. The team we were working with, especially on that aspect of the story, we didn’t want to rush it. I think that’s very unique and special. Once we released it to everyone, we wanted to make sure we did everything we could. So it took a while.
You’ve said before that you first read about this particular ivory raid in 2015 when you were making India in a Day. Up until now, it has taken nine years to make this show. Of course, in the meantime his second season of Derry Crime was released and a global pandemic occurred. Was there a constant research process during this period?
Richie: That’s right. After ‘India in a Day’, I was still writing and financing ‘Delhi Crime’ when I found out about this in 2015. My heart was in that zone and I needed to experience that journey. I never forgot that. In fact, there is a scene in episode 1 of Delhi Crime where Rasika Dugal’s character finds a fang at a random traffic stop. I was putting things into Derry Crime as a note to myself, trying not to forget the poachers afterwards.
During the post-production of ‘Delhi Crime’, I began the research process regarding the poachers. Now, I didn’t start that process thinking I was going to do it as his eight-part thriller and wildlife crime series. I began this process to gain a deeper understanding of my own worldview. And that started to translate into how interesting and complex it was. And how the world can benefit from seeing this. It was formed over time.
I’m sure the filming process for The Poacher must have taken place on location, and the entire cast and crew must have spent time in the woods. Roshan and Dibyendu sir, you’re playing people who have done that work here, so I’m curious to know about the process of approaching these characters.
Roshan:For me, the filming was incredible. Looking back, this was one of the most exciting shoots I’ve ever been a part of. One of the best teams I’ve ever worked with. It almost feels wrong to say this because we spent a good part of filming this serious, dark crime thriller about ivory poaching, but we had a lot of fun filming it. . One of the reasons for that is because of the character I was chosen to play. His name is Allan Joseph and he works for Wildlife Trust of India. There are many things in his life that he is not me. He is very far away from me. Overall, he is a fun, energetic, and proactive guy. he knows how to get things done. He has his own invention, jugal How to get things done. The way he performs these tasks, which are very important to him, ultimately helps in the investigation. A lot of it was written into the script. It was one of the scripts I read and immediately wanted to shoot.
And then, of course, I got to talk to this real person that Alan Joseph was based on. His name is Jose Luise. He’s an amazing person doing incredible things with his life. He was able to talk to him and meet him several times. It definitely helped and brought flavor to this performance. As I worked, I wondered how Jose would react in this situation. What would he do in this situation? It was an interesting process, revisiting what was written in Ritchie and the script.
Dibyendu: same here. When I read the script, I was very impressed. At a certain point in my career, I had a few things going on together. I was always focused on how to do this series leading up to Iska Baaki Kishi Ke Saas Klash Nahi Karna Chahie. Jabhi bhi days iske aayenge iske dates Solid Hone Chahiye (Dates in this series must not conflict with other works. Whenever dates in this series arrive, they must be solid dates). This is a real-life character named Amit Mullick. The script had many layers to the character, and some parts were dramatized. And once we learned about these wildlife crime fighters, we felt we needed to learn about their stories as part of a cohesive series. After all, I am responding to them and receiving information from them. That was an important part, because he did it in such an honest and natural way that I had to live the process. I loved the process of shooting poachers.
I’d love to hear a little about how you guys approached the syntax of the show. Poacher has a lot of dialogue in Malayalam and Dibyendu sir also speaks in Bengali, which is really fun to watch. How do you direct actors in a language you don’t speak, and how do they contribute to the process?
Richie: This process was very laborious and required many tricks and balances. I wrote this series in English, but basically, knowing the real-life people this work is inspired by, I labeled what dialogues needed to be in Malayalam. . Obviously, Hindi is not a problem for me, but I don’t understand Bengali, but it does make it easier to recognize what’s working and what’s not. But certainly Malayalam was a big challenge for me. Gopan, a wonderful Malayalam dialogue writer, came and we had a lot of discussions about the script. He understood that I needed to get as close to the English translation as possible because it was inspired by real events. I had to stick to the facts. We couldn’t deviate too much from the process.
On set, we read, reread, and cross-checked translations, and every morning during filming we sat in a vanity van and reviewed every scene. Roshan was very intuitive and checked many times and added small flaws if it did not translate well into Malayalam. Yes, it was a challenge, but we ended up doing it again during post-production and fixing it during dubbing if something slipped through that we couldn’t track. But many times, like when Dibyendu speaks Bengali, it turns out to be his language of thought. I knew that even if he deviated, that would be perfectly fine. The essence is there, and that applies to Roshan as well.
Roshan: I never thought of this as a hurdle. That was very, very exciting for me. I’ve been thinking for years that countries like India really need more multilingual projects. We are not in a time where we have to be limited to one language. Every actor can handle her three or more languages. Dibyendu can handle four. He actually speaks Malayalam in this show too! (Laughs) Also, Richie mentioned that all the jobs were very exciting and that even when they were giving him illegal lines during filming, he could hear them so it didn’t feel like hard work. That point is also very interesting. It wasn’t a language he understood. He knew what dialogue was going on in the scene, and there were many times when I wanted to get another shot and had to get up and walk away, and Richie knew what kind of dialogue was going on in the scene. He understood exactly what I wanted to say.
Richie: I loved watching the Divyendu scene in Bengali. It was really fun to watch.
Dibyendu: This whole series is about life and if I were to go to Kerala tomorrow, I would have to communicate with them somehow. As artists, we communicate in a similar way. It’s that simple. Multilingual projects should be done more often. Because it’s very real. Roshan must know this too and knows that I can work to bring out the essence, honesty and truth of the scene. If it is delivered, all is fair.
Finally, I would like to emphasize how meticulously Poacher develops his case for altruism. I’d like to know if there was an event that changed the way you see the world in any way.
Richie: Roshan had hinted at it earlier. Every time I meet the real-life people this story is based on, I see that they are not standing still. This operation we present to him happened in 2015. To them, he was nine years ago. They’ve been doing things ever since, but when I meet them now, they’re working on something else. So I’m inspired by the fact that it took them five years to tell about one of their accomplishments, and since then they’ve accomplished 100 things. What inspires me is that if you are a true altruist and do this for the benefit of life as a whole, it’s not project-specific, it’s an attitude in your heart that doesn’t seek gratification. That is to say. I am always and always inspired by it.
Roshan: This is a job that can only be done selfishly. If you approach it any other way, you will likely be disappointed. For me, I have been on a growth curve of consciousness where curiosity has helped me. There are many related issues in the world that you need to study on your own. The Poacher was one of the most important chapters in my life, filled with information I didn’t know before and meeting more and more people who inspire me. Not just the real people that these characters are modeled after, but also the people on our staff and anyone who projects like this. Why Richie spends so much of his life doing things like this. It hasn’t been easy and yes, there have been a lot of things that have inspired me and I hope that continues.
Dibyendu: same here. When you get to know them, you realize how unstoppable their lives are. I had a vague understanding, but after going through this project and meeting these people, my perspective changed. I promise to be more conscious of my society and my nature.
Poacher is available to stream on Prime Video.
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