Wild Karnataka (2019 film)

Wild Karnataka is a 2019 Indian ultra HD blue-chip natural history documentary on the Indian state of Karnataka's rich biodiversity produced by award-winning film-makers Amoghavarsha J S and Kalyan Varma. The film is narrated by Sir David Attenborough and has the theme music composed by Grammy-winning composer and music-producer, Ricky Kej.

The trailer of the film released on February 18 and was premiered on the 3rd of March, 2019 to an audience of 3000 people in Bangalore, India.

Background
With the highest number of tigers and elephants in the world, Karnataka has a rich biodiversity. The filmmakers, who are also naturalists, felt the need to put Karnataka and India on the global map with a 4K natural history film with narrations from Sir David Attenborough. The documentary took about 4 years to film and the film-makers shot more than 400 hours of footage to put in the film.

About the film
Wild Karnataka takes you on a journey across the varied habitats and species across Karnataka. The film is made with a story driven theme of not just the favourites like tigers or elephants, but also the lesser-known species like the Lion-tailed Macaque, Hornbills and countless species of amphibians and reptiles that will have one fascinated if only one commonly knew they existed. These stories range across from the wet evergreen forests of the Western Ghats, to deciduous forests of the Mysore district to thorn scrub forests and rocky outcrops of Ramnagara and Daroji, extending to the riverine and marine ecosystems, all found in the state of Karnataka. Popular British conservationist Sir David Attenborough has narrated the film, making Wild Karnataka the first film in India to be narrated by him and Ricky Kej has composed the music. This also recognises the fact that India is now at par with its international counterparts on creating blue-chip wildlife documentaries.

The Indian state Karnataka boasts of having the highest number of tigers and elephants anywhere in the world and the richest collection of flora and fauna. Wild Karnataka aims at setting a benchmark for Indian wildlife filmmakers in the space of natural history.

Quiet air-borne cameras with 4K broadcast quality were utilised for the film. Due to their non-intrusive nature, the footage seems natural and the filmmakers took extra caution to avoid intruding into the natural living of the wild.

Filmmakers and partners
The team behind the vision of Wild Karnataka is award-winning wildlife photographers and film-makers Amoghavarsha J S and Kalyan Varma, Vijay Mohan Raj, an IFS Officer who is a Chief Conservator of Forests and experienced naturalist Sarath Champati. Speaking about the film, the filmmakers say, “We shot more than 400 hours of footage, waiting patiently for the animals to allow us to shoot their story for the past 4 years. Wild Karnataka is the fruit of this hard work and patience, which is now ready for the world to see.

The partners include a range of names like Sandur Iron ore and Manganese Limited, Discovery Village and Jungle Lodges & Resorts.