Forest Dept puts 'Wild Karnataka' online before theatrical release, filmmakers baffled

The forest department's move to release the film came as a shock to the makers of 'Wild Karnataka', who were preparing for the theatrical release of the film in theatres on Friday.

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Just days before the theatrical release of the documentary film 'Wild Karnataka', it has already made waves on social media after the Karnataka Forest Department uploaded the film on Wednesday.

The forest department's move to release the film came as a shock to the makers of 'Wild Karnataka', who were preparing for the theatrical release of the film on Friday. The wildlife documentary set in Karnataka was shot in ultra-HD and is narrated by British broadcaster and natural historian Sir David Attenborough. The link was tweeted by the Karnataka Forest Department's official account on Wednesday and allowed social media users to watch the film but at the time of writing, the documentary was unavailable on the link.

The Karnataka Forest Department (KFD) defended its move to upload the film online by pointing to a memorandum of understanding struck with the filmmakers. "The parties agree that all copyrights of the film shall vest with KFD". The agreement also states, "The contributors shall be free to use, produce, publish, reproduce, broadcast, telecast, market, and distribute the film in any part of the world including and not limited to broadcast on television, internet, film festivals, and screenings in order to give wide publicity."

"The forest department has uploaded the film without informing us beforehand. Our screenings in theatres are house-full for the next three days so we are confident that the public will come watch the film in theatres", one of the filmmakers Amoghavarsha told TNM.