How Filmmaker Mike Pandey’s Documentary Saved India’s Whale Sharks From Extinction

Once a Bollywood cinematographer, Mike Pandey, would keep rolling the camera until satisfied with the take. But in the wild, there are no retakes, he learnt, following his transition to wildlife filmmaking in 1973. 

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“Elephants and tigers are not actors. You have to be on your toes to preempt the animal's movement and its behaviour,” the octogenarian reasons.  

His childhood memories in Kenya shared ground with the savannahs teeming with wildlife. Time ticked to an ancient pulse: measured by the slow march of elephants, the sprint of a cheetah, and the call of distant lions. 

Mike watched and learnt, years later replicating these lessons in his films — “When you’re making a wildlife film, let the visuals speak for themselves.” But back then, he was just a little boy, wielding his Kodak ‘Brownie’ camera, a gift from his uncle. He and Brownie were inseparable. He explains, “As far as imagination is concerned, the camera opened up different portals in my mind.”  

To the three-time Wildscreen Panda Award winner (the awards are equated to the ‘Green Oscars’), Jackson Wild Legacy Award (2024), and founder of Riverbank Studios — the production house has been making films and television content hinged on conservation since 1973 — visuals are sacrosanct, especially when it comes to wildlife filmmaking.

A story, if told compellingly well, can coax a community to trade their vocabulary, from mourning the loss of the wild, to working towards what still can be saved. 

A case in point is his documentary film Shores of Silence (2000), which led to the outlawing of the culling of whale sharks. The film went on to win the Wildscreen Panda Award that year. 

But long before these fish — one of the largest known extant fish species that are known to grow to 60 feet — became Mike’s protagonists, they caught his fancy when he was 10 years old on a trip from Mombasa, Kenya, to Mumbai. 

“We were on a steamship passing through Porbandar, Gujarat, when, while standing on the deck, I saw a school of whale sharks following our ship.” 

His voice is coloured by a boyish enthusiasm as he narrates, “We rushed into our cabin, got some bread and started throwing it towards them to lure them; they were such tiny dots in the big ocean.” His thoughts drift dreamily back to the coast, as if he never left. 

Well, technically, he didn’t. 

In 1997, Mike was filming a documentary on lions along the coast of Porbandar when he spotted the fish once more. Again, he felt the surge of love. Albeit this time, it was accompanied by intent. He made the dying fish a promise to protect them. 

Saving the gentle giants of Gujarat

If you spot polka dots and lined patterns in the water, brace yourself for a whale shark sighting. 

Native to warm tropical seas and oceans, in India, these fish can be spotted along the coasts of Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, the Lakshadweep islands and are known to congregate near the coast of Saurashtra, Gujarat, from March through June every year. But this attracted predatory hands around the late 1900s. 

Telling the story of how he stumbled upon a whale shark breathing its last, Mike recounts, “I felt terrible as I placed my hand on it; it was a very emotional moment.” 

When he probed the motivations of the fisherfolk behind this act of cruelty, Mike learnt that it wasn’t the meat they were after. “They wanted the liver for its oil. Once they would take out the liver, they would throw the carcass,” he shares, reasoning that the fisherfolk's perspective was missing the point. 

“It tore my heart to think that such a huge and beautiful creature was being killed for its liver oil, which would go into making wood polish to waterproof boats — mineral oil could easily serve the purpose,” he adds. 

Appalled by the skullduggery that escaped wildlife laws, Mike silently pledged his allegiance to the whale sharks. He would save them from this dystopian fate. “I felt the need to explain to people the role the whale sharks play and why we were fighting to protect them. It was at a very crucial time that we made Shores of Silence. The majority did not believe India even had whale sharks.” 

The film led to ripples of impact once released. 

Within three months of the film’s release, whale sharks were added to Schedule 1 of species under the Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972. Seven months later, the documentary was screened at the CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) summit, and an appeal was made for the protection of whale sharks, thus bringing about global protection of the creatures — “literally saving them from the brink of extinction,” Mike says, reiterating, “A small film that wasn’t supported by anyone gave the animal a chance to breathe.” 

Whale shark conservation

The protection of the whale sharks draws from the intersection of multiple organisations coming together to advocate for the species. One among them is the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI), which conducted surveys mapping the fisherfolk’s awareness around whale sharks — the surveys conducted in Veraval, Gujarat, the hub of whale shark fisheries, indicated awareness levels as low as 19 percent  — and severity of the rampant hunting along Gujarat’s coastline. 

This led to the launch of a subsequent awareness campaign by WTI with the support of the Gujarat Forest Department, Tata Chemicals Limited (TCL) and the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), aimed to curb the illegal killing of whale sharks, prevent accidental entanglement in fishing gear, and promote effective conservation measures. It saw the coming together of government bodies, NGOs, corporate partners, and even spiritual leaders.

The campaign tasted success, reflected in a rise in awareness and empathy for whale sharks among the fishing community. By 2025, WTI shares that “100 percent of the fisherfolk could recognise the species and were aware of its presence in Gujarat and its legal protection, while 96 percent understood its harmless nature, a complete transformation from 2005, when awareness ranged between 42 percent and 81 percent”. To date, fisherfolk have rescued and safely released over 1,000 whale sharks, showcasing their deep commitment to conservation. 

The other issue that the campaign addressed was to advocate for the fishing communities to receive financial compensation for any damage caused to their fishing gear, while they attempted to release the whale sharks trapped in these. As WTI confirms, the government also provides partial compensation for each fishing net that is damaged in attempts to save the whale shark.

The WTI also introduced Vhali Watcher, a self-documentation app that allows fishers to document the rescue of entangled whale sharks and submit sightings to the forest department to help build a database. 

Fisherfolk, who once slaughtered the whale sharks for their oil, now championed their cause of protection. The initiative led to over 987 whale sharks and 18 neonates being directly saved under the project (as of 30 October 2025). 

“That’s the power of a film,” Mike says. “Not too much melodrama, but simply going out with open arms and asking: ‘What can we do, guys? This is happening to our planet. We need this species; it’s not a food resource, nobody’s livelihood is being taken away, but it’s greed that is making us kill it.” 

Driving conservation through conversation

Mike’s mother never reprimanded him, ‘Drink your milk or the lion will come’. In the home where he grew up, wild animals were never verbalised as a threat. Attributing his compassion for the wild to his upbringing, Mike says he learnt early on that every living form has value, a purpose on earth. 

“I learnt that we depend on them for our own lives and our livelihoods. We never looked at wild animals with fear, only reverence.” 

He underlines the importance of local commitment in safeguarding creatures. 

“While urging the locals to protect the whale sharks, we explained to them that it’s a resource for them if tourists come and watch the fish. When they started seeing it this way, they began to understand the value of the creature. They started respecting it,” he says, thereby reiterating the importance of knowledge and education. 

“The fishermen did not know that the whale sharks are a limited species, a flagship species, that they contribute to the balance of oxygen in our atmosphere. That’s where it’s important to filter in the scientific aspects, a justification of why we're trying to protect these fish,” he shares.  

Mike’s documentaries chart the interlinked lives and desires of both the human and wildlife communities, which they capture. 

“Wherever I go, I speak to the people first. I make friends with them so that they know what I'm doing there. I become a part of the community, and that’s where I feel their pain. Only when you do this can you do justice to telling the story. And then support comes in from all directions.”

That being said, he is a firm believer in inculcating a love for the wild right from a child’s early days. Make environmental education a core subject in schools right from kindergarten, he urges. “Once respect for the natural world is a part of one’s upbringing, only then will there be change and hope.”

All pictures courtesy Mike Pandey

This story was made possible with the support of Aditya Maru, who helped facilitate the interviews.

Sources 

'On Saving Whale Sharks': by Ipsita Herlekar, Published on 21 April 2023.

'Whale Shark – the pride of Gujarat': by Wildlife Trust of India. 

'Communities for Whale Shark Conservation - A success story from Gujarat, India': by Indu Kumari and Sajan John, Published on 14 August 2017. 

'The Home Coming of Whale Sharks', Published by Principal Chief Conservator of Forests & Head of the Forest Force.