The politics of conservation: examining the human-wildlife conflict in Bollywood ecocinema Sherni (2021)

Abstract

The present article seeks to situate the Bollywood film, Sherni (2021), directed by Amit Masurkar, within the paradigm of ecocinema. In doing so, the article strives to scrutinize the film’s presentation of multi-level challenges within the system of conservation. The article thus, first explores how the film depicts the challenges arising from the conflict between development and conservation; second, how it investigates the challenges caused by the entanglement of the conservation system and corruption; and third, how the film attempts to explore the (im)possibility of attaining “Environmental justice,” keeping in view the interests of wildlife and of the indigenous people.

Keywords:

• conservation
• ecocinema
• forest
• human/non-human conflict
• wildlife

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.