“It’s story about people fighting for our future”: Director Richie Mehta on ‘Poacher’
Our Bureau
New Delhi/Mumbai
The US Embassy organized a preview screening of the first episode of the Amazon Original series Poacher, an investigative crime series that unearths the largest ivory poaching ring in Indian history. The US Embassy informed in an official press release, “This series is based on a real investigation led by Indian forest officials, the Indian Wildlife Crime Control Bureau, and a local NGO, the Wildlife Trust of India, which is the recipient of U.S. Department of State Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) and United States Fish and Wildlife Service grants.”
The US Ambassador to India, Eric Garcetti, introduced the event with remarks on combatting illegal wildlife trafficking, in addition to engaging with Indian forest officials and civil society experts. In a post on X, U.S. Ambassador Eric Garcetti shares that the American Center in New Delhi had an exclusive preview of “Poacher,” a series streaming on Prime Video India. The series delves into the true story behind India’s largest illegal ivory seizure, led by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB), and the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI).
‘Poacher’ is produced by Oscar-winning production company QC Entertainment and created, written, and directed by Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Richie Mehta, with Alia Bhatt as Executive Producer of the series.
In an interview, Richie Mehta said, “It is about wildlife crime fighters in India, a story about people fighting for our future. Young people are motivated to do everything they can in their power and more to save what they believe is the planet. These wildlife crime fighters are trying to save the entire ecosystem. It’s inspired by a true story, the largest elephant poaching case in the history of India, and how these people came together and figured out, with very little support, how to navigate this.”
Makers of the upcoming crime series ‘Poacher’ unveiled its official trailer on Thursday.
Director Richie Mehta said, “The short teaser is just giving you an idea of the importance of this crime that we have to be equating the life of an elephant, same to the life of a person, because that is the weight that we have to start considering these things. Mala’s character is a poacher, a historical hunter for a father. There were a few people who Mala is based on. And they carried this baggage, that at some point my family was responsible for destroying a lot of the charismatic species in this jungle, and now I need to make up for this.”
The series follows a diverse group of wildlife custodians comprising forest crime fighters, police personnel, and good Samaritans, in their relentless quest to expose the largest ivory poaching ring in Indian history.
Based on true events, ‘Poacher’ sheds light on the consequences of human actions driven by personal gain and greed, emphasizing the potential risks and endangering these species.
Richie Mehta added, “A lot of the species we’re talking about would benefit immensely from our absence. So it’s not about what is our relationship with them. It’s our relationship should be the preservation of their ecosystem and then stand back and give them the space that they need because what that ecosystem is doing for us as human beings is immeasurable. That’s the narcissistic, anthropogenic argument. It’s about giving them the space and standing back, not going to see elephants, letting them be.”
The trailer provides a glimpse into the heartbreaking reality of the merciless and incessant killing of elephants.
Nimisha Sajayan said, “I met the real Mala, you know, it’s based on a real person. I met him for like two hours something and I think it’s impossible to know a person in two hours. So I just asked him a question how do you feel when you get to know about these poaching cases he just said, just imagine something very close to your heart is taken away and your home gets robbed, how would you react? So, it’s like the jungle is my home and elephants, they are poaching my elephants. So, that reply just made me understand who the character is. How emotionally committed the character is to the jungle.”
‘Poacher’ is all set to stream on the OTT platform Amazon Prime Video from February 23 in English, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Hindi.
