A leopard enters Aarey colony. A young boy dies in a leopard attack. A leopard is found in a nearby housing complex. We often come across such headlines which create a commotion for some days and the news soon fizzle outs. Human animal conflict is rampant in certain vulnerable areas. Why do the leopards enter the human settlements? Why do they attack? Are they in search of food? Are they trying to adjust and live with us? Or something from our side has gone miserably wrong? How does this stop?
‘Ajoba’ – a film directed by Sujay Dahake, tries to find out the answers for these ever increasing issues related to wildlife. It is Sujay’s second film, the first one being ‘Shaala’ for which he got many accolades and also a National award. Ajoba is produced by Lalasaheb Shinde and Rajendra Shinde under the banner of Supreme Motion Pictures Pvt Ltd.
Dr. Vidya Athreya, a wildlife biologist collared a leopard which was rescued in Junnar, in 2009. The leopard was named ‘Ajoba’ and released in the Malshej Ghats. It is based on the leopard’s journey from Malshej Ghat to Boriwali National Park, Mumbai.
With the chip fitted in his collar, his movements could be tracked through the GPRS system.
The noted Bollywood actor Urmila Matondkar plays a lead role in the film. She plays the central character of the wild life biologist. She marks her debut in Marathi cinema through this film. The screenplay of the film is written by Gauri Bapat and the music is composed by Saket Kanetkar. The sound designing is done by Nimish Cheda and Avinash Sonawane.
Along with the footage of the actual leopards the audience will also get to see the animal through visual effects. The visual effects company – Illusion Ethreal has done a splendid job of creating the special effects for the film.
Well-known cinematographer Diego Romero captures the Leopard’s thrilling journey and the landscape beautifully through his camera.
The film which also stars well-known actors Yashpal Sharma, Hrishikesh Joshi, Dilip Prabhavalkar, Shrikant Yadav, Om Bhutkar, Neha Mahajan, Ganesh Mayekar, Shashank Shende, Anita Date, Chinmay Kulkarni, Virat Madke and Anuya Kalsekar will be a treat for the audience. Prasad Vaidya is the executive producer of the film and Rahul Odak and Shashank Kulkarni are the line producers for Supreme Motion Pictures Pvt Ltd.
The journey of Maharashtra’s first collared leopard will be an experience in itself.
Sujay Dahake’s film ‘Ajoba’ releases all over Maharashtra on 9th May 2014.
Source: Lokesh Shastri