Looking For Sultan

Father and son wildlife filmmakers, Mike and Gautam Pandey, set out on a mission to discover what happened to him.

More than 12 tigers have gone missing in Ranthambhore between 2012 and 2017. Young tigers who go missing are usually thought to have been poached or just lost forever. But the story is much more complicated. Tigers are born in parks and forests - a safe, secure place protected by their mother. But once these tigers mature they must find new homes but the question is where will they go?

Trackers on ground have proved that tigers leave the protected territory of national parks to walk great distances in search for new territory. Tigers know no borders and young sub adult tigers must walk hundreds of kilometres to find a new home, prey and a new mate. Once they walk out of the protected area of the forest they are in direct contact with human habitation. People and tigers now share a complicated relationship - one of constant fear of the other.

This is the story all across the country. Isolated populations of tigers in small fragmented forests surrounded by human beings and villages. The film looks at broader issues of conservation of tigers and their relationship with the people who share their habitat and the different efforts being made towards conservation in India through the story of Sultan.