Life is loaded with ironies. One can come up with a thematic series titled “Life and ironies - A Never Ending Love story”. This article is an outcome of one of my random thoughts. Of course a cinema-centric one, because you know you have become a true cinema ‘verian’ when you can associate anything with films; by anything I really mean ANYthing. Not clear? Read on to understand what I am getting to.

Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) is a statutory advisory body on Animal Welfare Laws and promotes animal welfare in the country. They are the ones a filmmaker should get permission from, if their feature demands a shot/frame of any being other than humans. From ants to elephants they are the actual cast managers in this case.

When I spoke to a filmmaker friend regarding the process that this board follows to permit shooting (canning, definitely not the other shooting for obvious reasons) animals. He ended up explaining to me a process that was as tedious as trying to get an Aadhar card for your 85 year old bedridden grandparents. Click this link to agree with me - http://awbi.org/awbi-pdf/simpleprocedures.pdf.

Welcome back! Please get an energy drink for yourself because I know how it feels after reading a four page long pdf dealing with something that you didn’t realize was so process driven. Yes, this is the main reason why even a small rabbit or any animal for that matter is synthesized using computer graphics of late. And you also may notice disclaimers as footer message stating that it is CG generated. All this implies even to an ant.

After that conversation with my friend, two questions came into my thought.

1.      What happens if an ant or say a cockroach by chance comes into the frame.

(Afterall shootings happen on Earth and cockroaches are the only immortals of our planet I feel.)

Ans. A filmmaker should know that it is not acceptable even if it was coincidental. They will have to go for a re-shoot. But many filmmakers tend to cheat the AWBI by finishing up the required procedures as though the shoot was yet to happen.   

Inference - Even AWBI seems to suffer from the usual ‘formality sake’ procedure syndrome. The loopholes of their rules are being exploited too.

2. What about a scene featuring an artist consuming non-veg. (Yes, this one was for the all Raj Kiran fans)

Ans. There is no restrictions on this regard.

Inference - It is all about being alive. Nobody cares if the being is dead.

Here is why my article started with a note regarding ironies. It is the same case with the ever popular debate on ‘Jallikattu’. Though I consciously want to avoid talking about that, I cannot refrain from mentioning about it in this most relevant point.

To sum up, all the aspiring filmmakers out there; if you are thinking about showing free spirited nature in a symbolic way, do not show a beautiful little golden fish swimming around in a pond. Rather show a man eating a variety of fish fries by the beach with floral shorts and netted banyan. Simply because the little golden fish might not co-operate with you for a fitness test!