Krupakar & Senani
Bio
Krupakar and Senani are Wildlife Filmmakers from Mysore working under the banner KS Features. They have worked as wildlife consultants/cameramen/directors and have produced many films for leading commissioners the world over, including National Geographic, Animal Planet, BBC, Discovery and ARTE.
They are also very serious students of natural history. Their study of Wild dogs or Dhole in the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve over one-and-a-half decades has yielded new insights into the behaviour of the species.
Awards:
Their wildlife films have won them many accolades worldwide – They are winners of Best of Festival Grand Award at Japan Wildlife Film Festival, Toyama (2007); winners of Best of Festival Award at Vatavaran, Delhi – 2007 and 2011, and again ‘Best of the Festival’, as well as Camerawork and Story-telling awards in 2015. Winners of Best Natural History and Wildlife Programme at Asian Television Awards, Singapore (2007); winners of Best Nature Documentary Award at Festival de l’Oiseau del la Nature, France (2008); winners of Roscar Special Jury award at Johannesburg, South Africa (2012).
They are the only wildlife filmmakers from Asia to have won the most prestigious Panda award (Green Oscar), Bristol, in the open category for Animal Behaviour, for their film ‘The Pack’ (2010), a 5-part series on dhole, produced for Animal Planet/Discovery.
They won the Karnataka State Sahitya Academy Award for their book ‘Jeeva Jaala’ in 1999, and were recipients of the Karnataka Rajyothsava award in 2006.
Photographic and Literary contributions:
They have contributed over 1000 photographs to leading books on birds, and magazines such as Natural History Magazine, Geo, London Times and BBC Wildlife. More than 40 of their photo-essays have been published in leading magazines and newspapers in India. They have also written a year-long column for the leading Kannada newspaper ‘Prajavani’.
Sereyalli Kaleda Hadhinalku dinagalu, Jeeva Jaala, Kennaiya Jaadinalli, and Birds Beasts and Bandits are the books written by them.
Conservation efforts:
On a voluntary basis, Krupakar and Senani are the show runners of a non-profit society called Namma Sangha, which is dedicated to conservation by reducing human pressure on the forests of Bandipur Tiger Reserve in south India. This 18 year old society has provided LPG connections to over thirty eight thousand (38000) families in 203 villages along the 200 kms forest boundary of Bandipur Tiger Reserve through two gas agencies, thereby successfully reducing their dependence on the forests. The whole objective is to provide an alternative, create a win-win situation, and wean people off the forests and give it a chance to rejuvenate. This is a completely voluntary effort where even professional consultants like CAs and lawyers work for free. This is now rated as one of the most successful conservation movements in India. Namma Sangha also supports several talented poor rural children especially in their higher education.