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Poacher has been receiving unanimous praise from critics and audiences since its release on Prime Video last week. The eight-episode long series marks the return of director Richie Mehta after his International Emmy-winning show Delhi Crime. Based on true events, this excellent show takes place in the jungles of Kerala, where a team of dedicated forest range officers and other members follow an investigation on the illegal ivory trade.
In this exclusive interview with Hindustan Times, producer Richie Mehta talks extensively about the process with actors Roshan Mathew (who played Alan Joseph), and Dibyendu Bhattacharya (who played Neil Banerjee, the field director of the Kerala Forest Department). Sat for. About having access to this important story, shooting on location, and the impact the experience had on them. (Also read: Poacher review: Richie Mehta delivers a wonderfully atmospheric tale on the illegal ivory trade)
Congratulations to Poacher. I first saw three episodes at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, where it ended on a cliffhanger. I’ve been wondering for a long time when this would be released and now, here we are. What was happening in between?
Illuminating:For us, it’s been two years since shooting ended! (laughing)
Richie: Yes, almost. I will tell you what happened. These were animals. We had finished the first three episodes with the animals, but the rest were not finished at that time. We needed time and as you can tell it required work and it had to be flawless. With the team we were working with, I wasn’t going to rush it, especially on that aspect of the story. I think it’s very unique and very special. I wanted to make sure that once this got out there that we did everything we could. That’s why it took time.
You had earlier said that you first read about this particular ivory raiding incident in 2015, when you were making India in a Day. Now if we look at it, it took nine years to make this show. Of course, in between you released two seasons of Delhi Crime and there was a global pandemic. Was there any research process always going on during this period?
Richie: Yeah it was. After India in a Day, when I learned about it in 2015, I was still writing and financing Delhi Crime. My mind was in that area and I had to go through that journey. I never forgot that, in fact in Delhi Crime in episode 1, there is a scene where Rasika Duggal’s character finds the elephant in a random traffic stop. I was putting things in Delhi Crime, making sure I didn’t forget to poach as a note to myself later.
I started the research process on Poacher when I was in post-production on Delhi Crime. Now I didn’t start that process thinking about doing it as an eight-part thriller and wildlife crime series. I began this process to further understand my perspective on the world. Then, how interesting and complex its translation began to be; And how can the world benefit from seeing this? It was formed over time.
I believe that the shooting process of Poacher must have been on location, with the entire cast and crew spending time in those forests. Roshan and Dibyendu sir, I am curious to know about your process of adopting these characters, because here you are playing people who have worked.
Illuminating:For me, the shooting was incredible. Looking back now, it has been one of the most exciting shoots I have been a part of. One of the best teams I’ve worked with. This gritty, dark crime thriller about ivory poaching took us so long to shoot that it almost feels wrong to say the least, but we really had a lot of fun shooting it. Part of it is because of the character that I get to play. His name is Alan Joseph and he works at Wildlife Trust of India. She is a lot of things in life that I am not. He is far away from me. Overall, he is a fun-loving, energetic and active person. He knows how to get things done. He has his own invention, jugru Ways to get things done. The way he carries out these tasks which are very important to him helps in the investigation. A lot of this was in the script. It was one of those scripts where I read and I immediately wanted to shoot for it.
Then, of course, I got the chance to talk to this real person on whom Alan Joseph was based. His name is Jose Lewis; An incredible person who is doing some incredible things in life. I got a chance to talk to him, I met him several times. This definitely helped and added a freshness to the performance. While I was working, I was wondering how Jose would react in this situation. How would he be in this situation? It was an interesting process, which I reconfirmed with Richie or what’s written in the script.
Dibyendu: Same here. When I read the script it made quite an impact. At that particular time in my career I was doing a few things simultaneously. I was always focused on how I would do this series, the dates should not clash with anything else. Whenever its dates come, its dates should be solid. It is based on a real life character named Amit Malik. There were many layers to the character in the script, parts of which were dramatized. Then when you learn about these wildlife crime fighters, I felt the need to learn about their stories as part of a cohesive series. At the end of the day, I’m giving them feedback and getting information from them. That was an important part, because they did it in such a real and natural way, so I got to go through that process. I loved the process of shooting Poacher.
I am a bit curious to know how you all worked on the syntax of the show, because Pochar has a lot of Malayalam dialogues and then there is also Dibyendu sir who speaks in Bengali, which is a joy to see. How did you direct the actors in a language you didn’t speak and how were the actors contributing to that process.
Richie:The process was very laborious, involving a lot of tricks and balancing. I wrote the series in English, and I basically labeled which dialogues should be in Malayalam, knowing that it was inspired by real people. Obviously, Hindi is not an issue for me, but I don’t know Bengali, however it makes it easier for me to identify what is working or not working. But of course, Malayalam was a big challenge for me. We had a wonderful Malayalam dialogue writer, Gopan, who came and we discussed a lot about the script. He understood that I had to keep it as close to the English translation as possible, because the language was inspired by the real case. I had to stick to the facts. I couldn’t be more distracted by this process.
On the set, we would read, re-read and cross-check with the translation, and during shooting, every morning we would sit in the vanity van and go through every scene. Roshan was very comfortable in checking it several times, and adding little cracks in it when it did not translate well into Malayalam. So, yes, it was a challenge, but we did it again during post-production, where if there was something missing that they couldn’t track properly, we would fix it in dubbing. But in many cases, I knew, like when Dibyendu was speaking Bengali, it was his language of thought. I knew that even if he strayed, it was completely okay. The essence was there, and the same applies for Roshan.
Illuminating: I never saw it as an obstacle. It was very, very exciting for me. For many years I have been thinking that in a country like India we really need more multilingual projects. We are not living in a time where one has to be limited to one language. All artists can handle three or more languages. Dibyendu can handle four. In fact, he is also speaking in Malayalam language in this show! (laughs) It is also very interesting to know that all the tasks that Richie mentioned did not seem like hard labor because it was very exciting and even during the shooting, Richie would catch on whenever a line was foul. was given, even if it was not in a language he understood. He knows what the conversation is about in a scene, and there have been times where I had to walk away and I needed to go another time for the shot and Richie knew exactly what I meant at that moment. Was.
Richie: I loved watching Dibyendu’s scenes in Bengali. It was a pleasure to watch them.
Dibyendu:The whole series is about life, and if I go to Kerala tomorrow I will have to communicate with them somehow. As artists, we are also communicating in the same way. It is as easy as that. Multilingual projects should happen more often, because it is very real. Roshan should also know this, where I know that by working on a scene I can bring out its essence, honesty and truth. If that is delivered, all is fair.
Finally, I want to highlight how Pocher lays out his argument for altruism with such care and attention. I’m curious if there has been any event that has changed your perspective on the world in some way.
Richie: Roshan had already explained its meaning. Whenever I meet these real people on whom this story is based, I see that they have not stopped. This operation that we show took place in 2015. This was nine years ago for him. They’ve done things since then and when you meet them now, they’ve moved on to something else. So I’m inspired by the fact that it takes me five years to tell the story of one of his exploits and he’s done hundreds of them since then. What inspires me is that if you are a true altruist, and are doing so for the betterment of all life, it is an approach in your heart that is not project-specific and does not seek gratification. I am extremely and constantly inspired by him.
Illuminating: This is a job that one can do only with a selfless attitude, because if you go into it with any other attitude, you will probably end up disappointed. For me, I’m at this point where I’m at that point of increased consciousness where my curiosity helps. There are a lot of relevant issues out there that you need to educate yourself about. Poacher was one of those very important chapters in my life where I was filled with information that I didn’t have before, and I kept meeting more and more people who inspired me. Not only the real-life people that these characters are based on, but also the people in our crew, and anyone who would project that way. This is why Richie would spend so much of his life working on something like this. It wasn’t easy by any means, and yes there were a lot of things that inspired me and I hope that continues.
Dibyendu: Same here. When you learn about them, you will see how the life of these people does not stop. I had general awareness but after doing this project and meeting these people, my perspective has changed. I promise that I will be more conscious towards my society and my nature.
Poacher is available to stream on Prime Video.
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