We were just three feet from King Cobra. It had raised its hood two feet above the ground. It was sitting on its eggs inside its nest. The crouching cameraman had a wide angle lens on the camera to capture entire forest background with the object. As a safeguard against an attack, we too on our knees, had held the cameraman by his collar so that we could pull him away from the Cobra. Suddenly the cobra raised its food to 4 feet. Now it was overlooking our head and could bite any of us. This was the scariest moment of my life.
This is but just one of the many such incidents – some scary some funny handsome interesting – that Mr Ajay Suri’s team faced during filming of a documentary on King Cobra in Uttarakhand – the first film to be made on the reptile. The film has been produced by international fame photographer Mr Anup Shah and Mr Parth Sharma and is directed by Mr. Suri, who also happens to be the Founding Editor of Indian Masterminds. You can watch the full interview by clicking on this link ….
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Mr Suri has been making wildlife films for almost 20 years now. He has shot umpteen number of tigers, elephants, leopards, lions etc. But, this is the first time that he focused on King Cobra. In this exclusive conversation he answers why he chose this elusive reptile.
He also reveals several little known facts about King Cobra, the most fearsome snake, an apex hunter who survives by feeding on other snakes. It is so venomous that even an elephant, bitten by King Cobra, dies within 15 to 20 minutes. And there is no antidote available of its venom in India. Meaning a person is certain to die if attacked by King Cobra.
The film, titled Divine Mother – because of a particular trait in King Cobra’s personality – was made with help of Uttrakhand Forest department. It was premiered at cm Uttrakhand Raj Bhavan and has been selected has official entry to Nature Film Festival Germany.
To know more about this film please watch the video.
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