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The main problem was how to keep the people safe from the tiger, once it is let out of the cage. In the shots for the film, the trainer should not be seen. On the first occasion, the tiger pranced about. Later, the scenes that were shot were not good enough. The second time the tiger charged towards the crowd, terrifying them.

Topic sentence: No one can beat Hollywood when it comes to making films with animals in them.

Two examples are given. 

(i) One is the Alsatian called Rin-tin-tin. 

(ii) The other is the collie called Lassie.

In the film ‘Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne’, Goopy and Bagha suddenly come across a tiger that is walking about in the forest without paying them any attention.

He suggested putting a ring made of thin wire around the neck of the tiger. The ring would be hooked to a length of wire so that the tiger does not go out of control.

When the tiger calmed down, they took a few shots as needed. This should have been the end f the story. But when they went back to Calcutta, they found the shots were not clear and they had to reshoot the scenes again at another time.

Mr. Thorat was taken aback because of the unexpected behaviour of the tiger. Instead of walking quietly in a dignified manner, it started jumping and running about with a lot of energy.

He brought two so that in case one does not behave properly, the other could be used for shooting the scene.

The scene to be shot was Goopy and Bagha getting terrified at the sight of a tiger. If the tiger has a ring on its neck, and it seen in the shot, the scene will have no meaning as people don’t get frightened when they see a tiger under the control of a trainer. Ray wanted to hide the wire and that is why he thought of a collar made of tiger skin. The wire will be hidden in the collar.

Description of the shooting:

We found a suitable bamboo grove in Notun Gram. As arranged with Mr. Thorat of Bharat Circus, a lorry arrived with two well-fed tigers. He brought two so that if one did not do things properly the other could be used. Atripod was placed facing the bamboo grove to mount the camera. The audience was instructed to get behind the camera. Goopy and Bagha were placed close to the bamboo grove so that they could be seen along with the tiger. A five-foot iron rod was fixed to the ground, some 30 feet from the area where the tiger was to walk. A tiger-skin collar with a thin wire inside was placed in the neck of the tiger. The door of the cage was opened and the tiger jumped out. But instead of walking calmly it started running and jumping about. When it became calm some shots were taken. But the shots were later found to be dark owing to poor light.

The scenes had to be shot a second time. A bamboo grove near Calcutta in Boral was found. The lorry arrived with Thorat, the tiger, the steel wire, the special collar and the iron rod. The whole village came to watch the shooting. The villagers were told to keep at least 70 feet away from the scene of the shot. Without listening to the instructions, the entire crowd got as close to the camera as they could. Thorat opened the cage. With a roar the tiger charged towards the crowd. The crowd disappeared as if my magic. Soon the tiger calmed down and the shots were taken as required. This time the tiger and the camera behaved well.

Ray describes the situation humorously by saying that they were getting to see a strange kind of circus for free.

Mr Thorat was asked ‘to give it another go’ because the first shots were not clear and they had to shoot the scenes again.

The reason was ‘the call of the wild’. When it saw itself in the open forest, he must have forgotten for a while that he is a circus animal! Probably he was showing his original instinct to be free.

He managed to get one from ‘Bharat Circus’ which was performing in Calcutta at that time.

They realized that this time the tiger and the camera had behaved well and they got the type of shots they had wanted.

The tiger was required to pace quietly about without paying any attention to the characters Goopy and Bagha who were exiled into the forest by their king.

There were nearly 150 villagers who had come to see the shooting. They were told to keep a safe distance because of the tiger. But they ignored instructions and came as close to the camera as they could. When the cage was opened, the tiger jumped down with a roar and charged towards the crowd. They melted away as if my magic.

Ray substantiates his argument by giving the examples of two dogs. He talks the films in which there was an Alsatian named Rin-tin-tin. It acted even better than humans. Later there were some films with a collie called Lassie. It looked as if the director could make Lassie act the way he wanted it to act. These dogs were like stars and they were paid like any other big actor. Their owners could easily get one lakh rupees from just one film. Later we also see how stand-ins are provided even for dogs which are as famous as the celebrity actors.

Hitchcock wanted a variety of trained birds, especially many ravens, as actors in his film. It was not easy to get trained birds.

The sight of fifty ravens perching quietly in a row on a specified spot, obeying the order of their trainer.

He placed advertisements all over the USA asking for people who had trained ravens with them. Then a man, with nearly a 100 trained ravens, responded.