My Tiger Family Review – These Precious Beasts Always Amaze

Valmik Thapar saw his first wild tiger 50 years ago. “You lose yourself within yourself,” he recalls, describing the experience. He had traveled on a whim from Delhi to the Ranthambore nature reserve in northern India. Ranthambore is one of the nine parks established by the Project Tiger conservation initiative launched by then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1973. Since then, Thapar has never really left the reserve.

The hour-long documentary “My Tiger Family” is like a photo album, capturing Thapar’s time with these majestic creatures. It focuses on the five matriarchs he has observed over the years, particularly around Ranthambore’s prey-rich lakes.

Padmini, the subject of Thapar’s first sighting, lived through an era of mass hunting. In the 18th century, Europeans arrived in India with guns, turning tiger hunting into a sport for the wealthy. One maharajah boasted of killing 1,300 tigers. Vintage photos show groups, including a young Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip, standing over tiger corpses. The initial population of about 100,000 wild tigers dwindled to just 1,800 when Project Tiger began. A dozen of these tigers were living in Ranthambore when Thapar arrived.

Padmini gave birth to a tiger named Noon in the 1980s, marking the beginning of what Thapar calls the reserve’s golden age. The surviving tigers gradually learned it was safe to roam during the day, and their numbers increased from 12 to 45. “They were the best days of my life,” Thapar reminisces, his voice filled with love. “I thought they would never end.” Footage of Noon and her mate, Genghis, underscores the awe-inspiring power and beauty of these animals.

However, the good days ended in the early 90s. Poachers arrived, hunting tigers for their bones to supply Chinese medicine markets. Two-thirds of the tiger population was killed, many shot at point-blank range because they had learned to trust humans. “Sometimes I feel guilty that I taught them to have faith in human beings,” Thapar admits. The reserve’s director and Thapar’s mentor, Fateh Singh Rathore, was nearly beaten to death by poachers. A driver saved him by shielding Rathore with his own body.

Thapar then turned to activism. He joined government committees, set up a charity, and wrote books and produced TV programs, including 1997’s “The Land of the Tiger”. However, the film doesn’t delve into his extensive conservation work or the vast knowledge he has accumulated. Even a quick look at Thapar’s Wikipedia entry suggests he merits a documentary of his own, but “My Tiger Family” remains focused solely on the tigers he loves.

Machli, born during the poaching crisis, managed to endure. Her DNA can be found in 75% of Ranthambore’s 70 tigers, including her granddaughter Arrowhead, and through Krishna and her litter of four cubs. The sight of Krishna’s four cubs, instead of the usual one or two, shook Thapar to his core.

Another poaching crisis struck in the mid-2000s, decimating entire tiger populations in two other reserves and halving Ranthambore’s tiger numbers. This led to Project Tiger being incorporated into the more powerful National Tiger Conservation Authority, and armed guards began patrolling the parks. The politics behind these changes, and Thapar’s involvement, are not covered in the documentary.

“My Tiger Family” isn’t a typical natural history documentary. Thapar mentions some new discoveries from the reserve, such as tigers’ ability to kill in deep water and mothers suckling full-grown cubs when they have no milk left. However, the film isn’t about scientific facts. It is a tribute to a handful of individual tigers and the stunning beauty of their environment. More broadly, it serves as a homage to what humanity can achieve in protecting precious things and a reminder of why it’s crucial to do so.

“My Tiger Family” aired on BBC Two and is available on BBC iPlayer.

Source: BBC