Jan 28 (TheHindu) – A new episode of Man vs Wild featuring Superstar Rajinikanth with Bear Grylls is being shot in Bandipur Tiger Reserve. An earlier edition of the documentary featured Prime Minister Narendra Modi which was shot at the Jim Corbett National Park in Uttarakhand last year.
T. Balachandra, Director, Bandipur Tiger Reserve said Rajinikanth arrived on Monday and is expected to leave by Tuesday evening. Bear Grylls reached Bandipur on Tuesday morning but details about his itinerary are not known, he added.
Mr. Balachandra said they have only permitted the use of cameras and a few equipment required for shooting wildlife documentaries and that there is no use of heavy vehicles carrying generator sets that normally tag along with film crew. He said most of the sequences will be shot along the highway and a bridge while one sequence entails crossing a water body using a coracle.
However, wildlife activists have questioned the timing of the shoot as it is approaching summer and the forest department staff will be busy burning fire lines. They alleged that all attention has now been diverted to the shooting but Mr. Balachandra said the forest department staff have not been disturbed.
An agreement was signed between the Karnataka Forest Department represented by the Field Director of Bandipur and Banijay Group, Seventaurus Entertainment Studio Private Ltd, Mumbai for shooting of the documentary in December 2019. The team was also allowed to do a recce from December 27th to 29th as per the agreement.
