Born to be wild – A rendezvous with Mike Pandey

Who is Mike Pandey?

Mike Pandey, now a veteran, became a filmmaker and was fascinated by wildlife because of his roots in Kenya. He was born and brought up near The Nairobi National Park, situated at the back of the Mike Pandey household in Kenya and proved to be a rich source of inspiration for him

In 1994, he became the first Asian producer/director to win a Wildscreen Panda Award, also known as a Green Oscar, for his film The Last Migration – Wild Elephant Capture in Sarguja. Several of his other films, such as Shores of Silence, Broken Wings, and The Timeless Traveler, to name a few, have been directly instrumental in bringing about legislative changes to protect species such as whale sharks, elephants, vultures, and horseshoe crabs.

He has won a whopping 300+ national and international awards!

Seamedu students’ rendezvous with the man himself

On 21st July 2016, students of Seamedu School of Pro-Expressionism seized the golden opportunity to interact with Mike Pandey and his son, Gautam Pandey (who’s taken the baton from his father), through a video conference over Skype. Despite being unwell, Mike Pandey ensured he talked with the students throughout the two-hour session. His words were laced with his more than 40 years of filmmaking experience as he expressed his vision of making films. He stressed how films should be made to benefit the environment and humankind.

Through examples from his films, such as Shores of Silence, demonstrated how the Mike Pandey movies resulted in a complete ban on the killing of whale sharks in the coastal area by the Government of India. Taking about awards won by Mike Pandey, this 70-minute film won him a National Award for Best Film in the ‘Exploration & Adventure’ category in 2005. The students saw a glimpse of the Mike Pandey movies through a 6-minute demo cut. Before the session began, the students watched a showreel of his New Delhi-based production house, Riverbank Productions, which comprised mesmerizing visuals of wildlife his team captured beautifully.

Enthused, he further guided the students on making engaging films by reducing the talking heads and emphasizing Visual storytelling, how good camera work and crisp images infuse interest in audiences, and how live sound makes the Mike Pandey movies more powerful and impactful in the international film circuit.

The Q&A round

In an interactive discussion, the excited and curious students started asking a lot of questions and Mike H Pandey handled every question with fine élan. Applying his worldly experience of such a niche aspect of filmmaking, he guided them towards understanding the deeper aspects of the entire production pipeline – right from scripting, research and development, planning shoots, and filming to editing. He also expressed his concern on the future of wildlife films, mentioning how there are a very few number of buyers apart from government agencies and NGOs for wildlife-related issues.

Inspiration and support for young filmmaker

Functionally being the president of IDPA (Indian Documentary Producers Association) himself, Mike Pandey expressed a need for a secure platform for documentaries in India. He encouraged the students to participate in this quest for exploring different environmental issues, raising them in the form of films, and submitting their films to the IDPA (since the organization is continually engaged in an endeavor to establish new film makers, to expand their horizons, push the boundaries, experiment and improvise to tell their stories in innovative ways by providing exposure and workshops for skill enhancement).

He also shared bits of quick trivia out of his booty, like how even the dreaded pests (like cockroaches) are being utilized to formulate antibiotics, etc. With a promise to be in touch with the students through social media for addressing any of their queries, Mike H Pandey concluded the session, drawing a huge round of applause from the students.

After a lunch break, the students were treated with a screening of his ‘Green Oscar’ winning film, ‘The Last Migration’.

That was indeed a ‘wild’ time spent with an ace film maker for Seamedu students!