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The cherub The documentary is a rare one on Red Pandas

Dr Sunita Pradhan, a scientist at the Darjeeling zoo, who has been studying the Red Panda for more than a decade, recounts in the film that it was “love at first sight,” as she saw the gentle, angelic animal in the wild. And those were the very words waiting to burst forth from my lips as I watched “Cherub of the Mist.”

The cute, cuddly, shyand rich-orange-hued furry Panda inhabits the dense forests in misty mountainous terrain. Produced by veteran wildlife filmmaker Naresh Bedi, “Cherub of the Mist” is the first ever film on Red Pandas in the wild. Says Naresh Bedi, “In my long career, I had not seen any film on the Red Panda in the wild.”

Thanks to the thick forest cover and terrain in which it lives and its very elusive nature, filmmakers had never succeeded in spotting it. But this prompted the Bedis – Naresh Bedi and his sons Vijay and Ajay – to take on the “challenge.”

And that meant staying extended durations, even for up to two months at a stretchin West Bengal’s Singalila National Park, located between Nepal and Bhutan, where the entire film has been shot. And their passion for wildlife and persistence of the Bedis paid off.

Says Ajay, “It was a dream-come-true when I first saw the Red Panda.” Shot over 180 days, the 53-minute long film comprehensively documents the life of the Red Panda: its feeding and resting habits, its mating behaviourand the female’s nesting pattern and care for her young cubs.

The film has also tracked a pair of captive-bred pandas, Mini and Sweety, from the Darjeeling zoo, also released in the wild –an experiment conducted for the very first time.

A solitary arboreal herbivore that thrives on bamboo leaves, the Red Panda is also called the Fire Cat.

Says Naresh Bedi, “It was incredible when Vijay called up to say he had actually spotted and filmed a pair of Red Pandas mating.” For it is just on one day in the year, during winter, that the female mates! The film has also tracked the arduous nesting process undertaken by a pregnant panda. Named Dolma, she has been tracked until she walks with her two fledgling cubs in tow.

Filmed over two years (from 2004 to 2006), the documentary also showcases the stunning beauty of Singalila across the seasons – from heavy snow to the splendour of spring with a riot of blossoms to torrential rain and mist.

Although the Red Panda is protected under the Wildlife Protection Act (1972)its numbers have been fallingand today only about 2,500 Red Pandas survive in India, Nepal, Bhutan and Myanmar. The primary reason for the dwindling numbers is habitat loss due to prime forest area being cleared up for agriculture along the Nepali side.

Besides, bamboo trees are recklessly felled by the Nepali villagers for building houses, denying them their staple diet. The film has won nearly half a dozen prestigious awards across the globe including the Best Film award in the Revelation category (sponsored by the Ministry of Environment and Forests) at the recent Vatavaran film festival in Delhi.

For the Bedis, though, the conservation message that has gone out is significant. “What is heartening is that West Bengal Chief Minister, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjeeon seeing the filmhas decided to fence Singalila’s Border with Nepal,” says Naresh Bedi.

For one who has watched the “Cherub of the Mist” more than a couple of times, it’s now the cherub I want to watch in the mist.

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