‘Demand better retired life for him’

MUMBAI: Ambika Hiranandani, an animal rights activist and lawyer, has urged the BSPCA and the horse survey team to relocate Superman to a better place for the last few years of his life. "The story of Superman is typical of countless other horses who are forced to work long hours and live in filthy stables," she says. "Superman is in extremely delicate health."

The horse's last assignment was over a year ago for serial Jhansi Ki Rani. "He was ridden by a young girl who was playing the child queen, but his health was bad even during the shooting," says animal activist Roxanne Davur of NGO Terra Anima. "If horses work so hard to earn for their masters, they should also be allowed to retire at right time."

According to BSPCA secretary Lt Colonel J C Khanna, a horse should be retired at 22 years, which is the equivalent to 60 in human beings.

Manilal Valliyate, director of veterinary affairs of PETA India, said: "Since Sholay was released, I have grown from a baby into an adult, become a husband and a father and graduated from vet school, while this poor horse has been spending his life at shoots. He would have been whipped and forced to drag heavy loads beyond his physical capacity," he says. Valliyate feels that the "archaic" practice of using horses to haul carriages needs to be done away with.

Incidentally, Sholay heroine Hema Malini wrote in 2009 to then minister of environment and forests Jairam Ramesh on behalf of PETA India to stop the use of horse carriages in Mumbai. In January, the HC ordered to form a special panel to survey and study the health of all workhorses and condition of stables. 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/Demand-better-retired-life-for-him/articleshow/12487331.cms

 

'Thiruvambadi Thamban' gets a tranquilizer shot

Alappuzha: The Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) has denied permission for using elephants for the shooting of M Padmakumar's film Thiruvambadi Thamban with Jayaram in the lead.

The AWBI has also served show-cause notices to the film's producer and director for illegally parading 54 tuskers for the shooting of the film last December. The board has also asked the director to remove the scene in the film in which Jayaram (Thiruvambadi Thamban Tharakan) and Jagathy Sreekumar (Thiruvamabi Mathan Tharakan) have acted along with tuskers.

On March 1 this year, the AWBI's Performing Animals Sub Committee (PASC) considered six applications from various film producers for getting the board's no-objection certificate (NOC) for using animals for shooting. However, the PASC granted NOC to all other films except Thiruvambadi Thamban.

The film's director Padmakumar and producer Alexander John (Jini Cinema) submitted a letter of apology to the AWBI for using 54 elephants for the shooting of the film without AWBI permission on December 23, 2011 on the premises of the Kattakampal Temple in Thrissur. The board, however refused to entertain the letter and served them a show-cause notice on March 1 under section 26 of Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960.

As per the Performing Animals (Registration) Rules, 2001, shooting with animals should be undertaken only after getting pre-shoot permission from AWBI. Padmakumar said they had sought permission for using two elephants for filming outside Kerala. "However, we did not get permission and they also sought some clarifications from us. We do want to highlight this issue. Though we have been directed to delete some scenes, we will take a decision on that only before we submit the movie to the Censor Board," he said. The show-cause notice followed a complaint lodged by V K Venkitachalam, secretary, Heritage Animal Task Force.

Venkitachalam said the film told the story of a family which indulged in illegal trading of elephants, which also is against rules. "The director of the movie has also used elephants in Nagercoil, Pollachi and Tirunelveli for the shooting without the permission of the board. We have also drawn the board's attention to this issue."

However, S Sureshkumar, the scriptwriter of the film, said the story of the film did not violate any rules. "We have not used 54 elephants for the shooting, and we have shot the real pooram at Kattakampal Temple. We have informed the AWBI this. And they have sought some clarifications from us after we failed to submit some papers. We will soon sort out all problems," he said.

No rats for Rakesh Roshan

Apparently, the producer/director has been denied permission by the Animal Welfare Board to use rodents in his film

Rakesh Roshan's upcoming film Krissh 3, which is currently under production was denied permission by the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) to include rats in one of the scenes. The board has also sought an explanation for scorpions and frogs that were found misused earlier on their sets.

In the application made by them, Roshan's production house sought permission to include five rats. This was for a scene in which the artiste would keep all these animals and insects in a lab because he is shown to be an animal lover in the film.

However, AWBI denied the application late last month. And instead, they asked the applicant to explain about the snakes, scorpions, frogs and other creatures that were seen loitering around on the sets.

It was recently reported that the script of the film demanded real reptiles rather than animated versions.  Hrithik Roshan had assured that the reptiles would not harm others or get harmed, as there were trained professionals to look after them.

The other side
When we tried contacting Major General R M Kharb, the chairman of AWBI, he was unavailable for comment.

However, on AWBI's website, the status of the application made on December 22 by Roshan's production house clearly mentions that the permission given may not be approved as the applicant needs to explain the reports on the reptiles that were found on the sets.

Speaking on the issue, Rakesh Roshan said, "We used dummies for long shots and for the close-ups we will be doing it on computer graphics."

Do you know?
The Bombay High Court issued a judgement on August 22, 2005, which required the Central Board for Film Certification (CBFC) to ask applicants to furnish a no-objection certificate from the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) before certifying any film in which animals have been used.

There have been numerous cases of animals that have suffered ill treatment during filmmaking. Some animals have even suffered serious injuries, while some have even died. Some animals are drugged to make them easier to work with, and many have their teeth and claws surgically removed or impaired. 

With inputs from Hiren Kotwani

http://www.mid-day.com/entertainment/2012/jan/060112-No-rats-for-Rakesh-Roshan.htm