Mumbai: Taira Malaney will never forget the female olive ridley sea turtle she encountered one evening while shooting her film, Turtle Walker, in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. “She came up and just kept digging and digging and digging. I think she must have done so for nine hours,” remembers the Goa-based writer, director and producer. Finally, at dawn, the turtle started laying her eggs. “It was a beautiful sunrise, and we sat around these forest rangers, people who really work to protect these animals every day. It was really special to witness this.”
A Visual Ode to Marine Life
From footage of that very turtle laying her eggs to close-ups of bizarrely beautiful sea creatures in their natural habitat and shots of surf-swept shores towards which baby turtles skitter, Turtle Walker is full of visually stunning imagery, drawing viewers deep into the story of these primaeval reptiles.
“It was really important to reach audiences who have not had exposure to the beauty of marine life that we have in our country,” says Taira, founder of Emaho Films. She firmly believes the first step towards conserving India’s remarkably diverse marine wildlife is to help people experience the sense of awe of seeing and learning about them. “I think that the first step towards wanting to protect something is to feel connected to it,” she says of the film, co-produced by Tiger Baby Films, Emaho Films and HHMI Tangled Bank Studios.
Telling Human Stories
Taira believes the best way to do this is by telling human stories, even in a wildlife film, “because we connect with each other’s emotions, very directly.” In Turtle Walker, the late Satish Bhaskar, known as ‘Mr Sea Turtle’, becomes the vehicle through which this happens. “I thought that through Satish’s story, people can connect with the animal and the ecosystems they call home,” she says.
The film is part of Animal Planet’s India: Epic Wild Stories anthology. Sai Abishek, Head of Factual Entertainment, Lifestyle & Kids, South Asia, Skydance, says, “Within this anthology, Turtle Walker stood out for the way it brings together an extraordinary personal journey and a larger story about marine conservation.”
“His indomitable spirit saved the enigmatic creatures from extinction and reminds us how precious our planet is,” says Zoya Akhtar, who co-founded Tiger Baby Films with Reema Kagti. Satish Bhaskar, she notes, walked nearly every inch of India’s coastline to discover the nesting beaches of sea turtles so that they could be protected. Reema adds, “This project aligns with our dream to bring inspiring, untold stories from India to a global stage.”
The Genesis of the Film
Taira first heard of Satish Bhaskar when, after graduating with a BA in Psychology from Occidental College in 2013, she moved to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands to work with a marine conservation organisation. “When you are there, you hear stories about people like Romulus ‘Rom’ Whitaker and Satish Bhaskar, all part of the Andaman and Nicobar Environment Team (ANET),” she says. “Those stories stuck with me.”
Later, an article about Satish written by Rom caught her attention. “I have always been interested in the psychology behind humans and nature, what draws people to protect these wild spaces,” says Taira, who found herself captivated by stories about Satish, “some of which were too good to be true.”
She soon discovered that Satish lived just an hour away from her home in Goa. “When Satish started, there was no blueprint for where these turtles nest. That is what set him on this journey, literally walking across India’s entire coastline,” she says. The two spent years doing research interviews, sharing meals and building trust. “It has been a nearly nine-year-long journey.”
Film Facts
Turtle Walker uses cinematic recreations, archival photographs, stunning wildlife cinematography and interviews with Satish and his wife Brenda to tell his story. “The recreations were a tool we decided to employ once we realised that so much of the film had taken place in the past, and we did not have access to archival footage,” Taira says.
Her close friend, artist Rohan Joglekar — who bears more than a passing resemblance to Satish — played his younger self. “The entire story is scripted around one long interview, which forms the backbone of the film, and then we used his narration to storyboard how we would shoot these recreations,” says Taira, adding that Satish guided Rohan through the sequences.
The film won accolades worldwide, including the Grand Teton Award at the Jackson Wild Media Awards, and premiered at Doc NYC 2024. By then, however, both Satish and Brenda had passed away — in 2022 and 2023 respectively — without ever seeing the final version. “He did see a longer version of the film… I am very grateful that he could see this longer version and give us his input,” she says, recalling how Satish’s children “cried a lot when they watched it.”
In Taira’s view, given that the film highlights not just the importance of these nesting sites but also the resilience of these animals, who bounced back after the 2004 tsunami, “having a story like that is very important in today’s day and age.” She hopes viewers feel the same pride she did for India’s marine biodiversity. “I also hope that it inspires people to take up challenges that they are not sure that they can handle, because we can see with Satish’s story that it is possible to change the future for an entire species.”
Turtle Walker releases on October 19 at 9 p.m. on Animal Planet.
