First, animals don’t enjoy human contact. Promotional material for Irwin’s documentary Ice Breaker read: “He slides down hillsides with penguins, almost rubs noses with the notoriously dangerous leopard seals and spends the most inspiring time with two friendly humpback whales.”

It is mandatory to maintain at least a five-metre distance from seals and penguins and swimming with whales is banned. Irwin was eventually given a clean chit by none other than the Australian PM John Howard in 2004 after a probe that many claimed was “aware of the iconic stature of the accused”.

While Irwin never filmed in India, Corwin shot the Asiatic lions and the Bengal tigers extensively three years back. In Gujarat’s Gir, he made full use of the gentle-natured lion’s hospitality — the footage showed him almost playing with a lion pride. In Ranthambhore, however, the resident tigerman Fateh Singh Rathore didn’t allow him to venture much on feet. And a trained wildlifer, Corwin did not take any chance with the lonely predator.

Fateh, however, rules out much of the TV hype as manipulation: “Beyond a point, no one can handle the wild.” India’s foremost wildlife filmmaker Mike Pandey agrees. He recalls many examples: Heat chestnut shells from below so that they instantly burst open, scattering seeds, for the camera; place a trout in a shallow glass tray half an inch underwater (invisible to the camera) so that fishing eagles dive repeatedly for great TV; or fix a bee with super glue to a fine wire, tie it to the camera and carry the camera forward with the bee in focus so that the visual resembles a meticulous, uninterrupted tracking shot.

... contd.