The definition of success is different for each and everyone. For some, its climbing the corporate ladder while for some others it is leaving the corporate world to narrate stories of the wild !

Sabyasachi Patra, our next pathbreaker, Corporate professional turned Filmmaker and Founder (Wild Tiger Productions), shoots compelling stories on the environment, forests and wildlife issues.

Sabyasachi talks to Shyam Krishnamurthy from The Interview Portal about leaving a plush job at companies such as Tata Motors and Nokia to become a filmmaker, and crisscrossing India looking for leopards through many life and death situations for the making of his documentary “Leopards The Last Stand”.

For students, Dream. Don’t forget your dreams. Don’t allow anyone to belittle your dreams. Harness your dreams and persevere because life is all about living without any regrets.

Sabyasachi,   can you explain your background to our young readers? 

My dad was a Professor of Zoology. During my childhood days, postgraduate students used to come home to ask doubts. If there were more students, then dad used to tell them to get the entire class so that he can take the full class at home. They used to occupy every available chair and also squat on the floor. I used to loiter around to hear my dad, and the examples he used to give while teaching got imprinted in my mind. Even though later I went on to do engineering and MBA, those early memories attracted me to animals, forests, and ecology. Added to it were the lovely books written by sportspersons about their hunting experiences. Most of those books are a good source of natural history. So, my interests kept on becoming stronger and stronger and it led to small treks and explorations in the nearby forest areas. 

What did you do for graduation/post graduation? 

Those days, people doing good in studies were expected to appear for engineering or medical. I did my BE in Metallurgy from NIT Rourkela. Later I did my MBA from XIM Bhubaneswar.

What were some of the key influences that led you to such an offbeat, unconventional, and uncommon career in Wildlife?

During my college days, I had a small automatic camera. 

After graduating, I joined Tata Motors in Jamshedpur. There I bought a manual focus SLR camera and lenses using six months of my salary. And I started seriously learning photography by reading books and doing trial and error. 

Three years later, I joined XIM Bhubaneswar to do my MBA. All the while, I kept on experimenting with black and white as well as colour photos. Friends can be very unforgiving of your mistakes especially when it costs them money. Those days democratization of photography had not happened. Mobile phone cameras came much later. Those days, we used to pool our money to buy film rolls and develop those in the studio. If one has the ability to take the jabs thrown by friends for going crazy with ideas and messing up some of the shots, then one can learn a lot. I used to remember all my mistakes so that I don’t repeat those. 

At that time, my dad had helped me develop the black and white shots and print those. I learnt a bit from him as he critiqued the shots as well has helped in developing in the dark room in a studio.

Tell us about your career path

I was acting like one of the millions of young people who chase the conventional definition of success. During my time, the toppers used to get into engineering or medical streams. I chose engineering. Then people used to go for MBA and some for IAS. I chose MBA. I was never rigid in my choice. I was ready to course correct based on whatever appealed to me. However, that was not my calling. While handling Govt. Relations of Nokia every other day I was moving around with politicians and high officials. I realised that it was primarily because of the organisation. If I would have represented a smaller organisation, then it would have been different. And at the same time, my father suddenly passed away due to medical complications. 

While watching my father in the hospital, I grappled with the inevitability of death. I realised that we are not immortal like Hanuman. So, I thought that when my time to end my innings on earth comes, there should not be any regrets. Hence, I decided that I will follow my passion fulltime.   

Over the years, my passion had kept on increasing. Investment in bigger lenses and cameras happened over a period of time. Technology changed and I too moved onto digital cameras. Then came DLSRs with the ability to shoot video. I was writing a monthly IndiaWilds newsletter about wildlife and conservation issues. I realised that the attention span of people was going down and moving imagery was beginning to have more impact than still images. Films have a way of touching and influencing people without them realising it. So, I jumped into shooting video. 

How did you get your first big break?

In 2010, I bought a Canon 1D Mark IV camera which had the ability to shoot 1080p video. At that time, I was handling the Govt. Relations of Nokia and based out of Sriperumbudur. I had taken several weeks off and shot a short documentary “A Call in the Rainforest” with it. And the film was widely appreciated in international film festivals and got me an award from the Maharashtra Govt. 

That was also a period when I was grappling with the sudden demise of my dad. Realization had dawned about our mortality and the need to fulfil our wishes before our time to end this innings on earth. So, I finally decided to quit my job as Executive Director of MAIT (Manufacturers Association for IT) to follow my passion. 

How did you plan the steps to get into the career you wanted, Filmmaking?

I am a person who learns everything by myself, either from books or by trial and error. When I identify an area that needs to be strengthened, I do my research and buy relevant books to read. 

To learn more about filming, I had ordered a lot of books from the US. After paying courier charges and duty, it used to be a costly affair, but for me that was the only way available. 

During our childhood days, dad used to make us watch films of Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen, Ritwik Ghatak and Akira Kurosawa. Watching films of such masters always leaves behind imprints and helps shape our sensibilities. I went back to procure DVDs of their films to watch and study them in my leisure. That was my film school. 

I felt the difference between Indian films and Hollywood is in their story telling. The scripts of even action films in Hollywood would have a few lines which reveal deep philosophy. So, I read up on western philosophy. Later I read Upanishads. I became comfortable in writing the scripts of my documentaries. 

I invested in my own equipment so that I can do justice to my vision. To gain experience in different genres I accepted freelance work to shoot for various foreign channels, corporates and production houses. 

What were some of the challenges you faced? How did you address them?

When you shift careers midway, people have many questions. Everybody thought I had seen the movie “3 idiots” and left my job. So they used to think that either I have a lot of money to burn or else I am an idiot to quit a lucrative job. Either way, people would not be happy to trust you with their work. So it was important for me to do my own shootings, my own documentaries and put those on the web for the whole world to see. That is how clients started approaching me. These days social media is more prevalent and one can make use of it.

When you run your own company, you don’t have the support staff like in the corporate world. So, you have to do everything. Artists are often not used to promoting their work. However, good sales and marketing is often the differentiator that separates successful people from the rest. 

As a small company, it is difficult to handle loss of your key personnel and remain afloat. So, if a company has to grow then you have to have a trusted team of assistants who can step up to fill the vacuum. 

What do you currently do? Tell us more about your work

I travel throughout India to shoot. I have assistants based in various states who help me in my projects. It keeps my cost structure competitive. I shifted my base to Bhubaneswar. I am now completing my documentaries and planning for a feature film. 

I have been shooting a documentary on Leopards for the last decade. I have crisscrossed India looking for leopards living in close proximity to humans. It has brought me to places where leopards are living in peace as well as shown me conflict situations where people are actively trapping and killing leopards. The film is now ready. However, based on some suggestions by a major channel, I am trying to incorporate some feedback. It is a labour of love and I have gone through many life and death situations in making the documentary Leopards The Last Stand. Link to trailer: https://youtu.be/n2MqnY1eHIY 

How does your work benefit society?

It started as a personal exploration as primarily my personal journey. I was concerned about the environmental degradation happening all around me. So, in 2008 I started writing a monthly newsletter on environment, forest and wildlife issues. I continued that till 2022. I realised that people have limited attention span these days and hence my newsletter is not having the desired impact. On the other hand, I understood that films have the ability to touch us and help change our minds even though we may not realise it. Hence, these days my focus is to create documentaries and short films on various topics which will act as my personal voice and help people appreciate those. After all, you care if you love. And you care if you are aware. 

Memorable project you worked on?

There have been many experiences which have had a deep impact on me. Some experiences taught me humanity while others crushed my ego and some had a deep spiritual churning and uprising. 

While filming in small towns and villages I found my India. The India which believes in the motto “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam”. In a small village in Maharashtra, I was filming for my leopard documentary “Leopards the Last Stand”. I had setup my hide and was waiting for a leopard to turn up. The lady of the nearby house forced me to take food in her place. She thought that perhaps I am not able to understand Marathi, so she just came and held my hand and just pulled me to her house. The warmth she displayed was amazing. She knew that next day morning I will leave and we won’t meet again. However, she treated us as a guest and insisted that we eat at her house. This is the real India where people help and take care of others without any expectation. Big city folks can learn a thing or two from this situation. 

In another situation, in pitch dark, a tiger was stalking deers in front of us. I was under the impression that there was one tiger. But I heard the sound of tiger charging from left to right and then immediately from the same position right to left. I realised that there were two tigers in front of us. That was a humbling feeling. Your ego of having lot of knowledge gets crushed. Humility sets in. And where there is humility there is learning and accrual of wisdom.

Your advice to students?

My advice to students is to find what you like best. Just keep on doing things and refining your interests. When you look over your shoulder and see that over the years you have been doing something through periods of pleasure as well as pain, then you know that is your passion, which will remain with you. Talk about it at the top of your voice. If your current work is not good enough, then keep on polishing it. For eg. if people say that your film is slow, then make that silence so arresting that people pause and take notice.  

There is no substitute to reading. Get all the books that you can get from any source and read. Note what you like and then try to put those to practice. If you are able to replicate the experiments and get the same result, then that becomes your wisdom. Rest all remains as knowledge. 

Dream. Don’t forget your dreams. Remember that a poor person is a person who has given up on his/her dreams. Don’t allow anyone to belittle your dreams. Harness your dreams and persevere. Continue to put fuel to your dreams on a consistent basis and you will achieve things when the time is right. 

Future plans?

I am reading novels and hunting for a story so that I can convert it into a feature film. 

This is the link to my youtube channel with some 59k subscribers
https://www.youtube.com/user/IndiaWilds