Wildlife filmmakers Bedi Brothers (Rajesh Bedi and Naresh Bedi). | Photo courtesy: SR Praveen
Most people shy away from the prospect of spending harsh winters in the high mountains, but the Bedi Brothers (Naresh Bedi and Rajesh Bedi), acclaimed wildlife filmmakers, spent three consecutive winters in the high altitudes of Ladakh, braving difficult terrain, extreme cold and eating the same canned food day after day, to capture the elusive nature.snow LeopardIn its natural habitat.
Rajesh Bedi told in an interview, “We had local trackers in different valleys who would report to us whenever they were spotted. One evening, when the sun was almost about to set behind the mountain range, a snow leopard came barely 6 feet away from my hiding place. He would pull a yak and stare at the lens. By then, it had become difficult to capture more content as the sun had set.” Hindu The two were honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 16th International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala (IDSFFK) on Friday.
Pioneers
Over the past five decades, he has become the first person to film extensive footage of the snow leopard, red panda, gharial, Indian wild dog, Himalayan lynx and bar-headed geese in their natural habitats, making him one of the pioneers in Indian wildlife filmmaking.
It all started when his father, an Ayurvedic doctor, instilled in him an interest in plants and animal life during his childhood days in Haridwar.
“Our father was keen to take us to the forests. He gifted us a Rolleicord camera and encouraged us to take pictures for his writings. When he took pictures, he would go as close as possible,” says Naresh.
Rajesh entered the big stage and photographed the various moods and expressions of the least elusive animal – the cow. The life-size photographs were put up in many popular exhibitions. The breakthrough in his career was the series of paintings on snake worship which was published in the magazine. National Geographic magazine.
By this time Naresh had graduated from the Film and Television Institute of India. The two brothers soon came together to shoot for their debut project Ganges GharialThe video, filmed with a handheld camera, revealed behavioural traits that were not previously seen. “Earlier, it was thought that their behaviour was similar to that of other crocodiles,” says Naresh, who made the documentary in the late 1980s. Whistling hunters Dholes, Indian wild dogs captured in their natural habitat in Periyar, Kerala. This BBC documentary was narrated by David Attenborough.
Effects of climate change
In these decades of filming, he has seen and experienced the effects of climate change and global warming up close.
Rajesh says, “In the mountains, high temperatures cause ibex, blue sheep and other animals to move to higher altitudes, and snow leopards to even higher altitudes. In many places, grasslands, where elephants used to coexist for months, have now become almost deserts. Wildlife films and books directly contribute to spreading the message of conservation. Without it, you are not doing justice to your profession.”
