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Animals no more seen in south Indian cinema
By Chitra Prakash, Indo-Asian News Service

Chennai, April 3 (IANS) Elephants saving damsels in distress, cobras punishing cruel villains, monkeys in the company of comedians and tigers being tamed by heroes. Until recently, all these were recurring images on the Tamil and Telugu screens. 

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Celluloid animals, however, are now a vanishing species in these sections of south Indian cinema. 

The Animal Welfare Board and the censors have made it hard for animals to survive in the world of cinema. 

Vanishing with the animal artistes are their trainers, too. "This has led to a loss of employment for many," lamented Ramadas, a veteran trainer of animals for Tamil films. 

In an interview with Tamil media, he talked about many erstwhile associates who have left their jobs and gone home - like Narayanan from Kerala who supplied elephants, Paramasivam who had a stock of cheetahs and bears, and Mastan with an assortment of snakes. 

Only dogs, said Ramadas, are still getting some acting opportunities. 

"Even if an animal is used for one scene in a film, the board's permission has to be obtained. If any scene depicts the suffering or death of an animal, the censors demand an explanation about how the scene was shot," added Ramadas. 

Because of these rules, according to him, many producers avoid scenes featuring animals in their films - or resort to graphics in place of real animals.

Producers of Telugu films, too, are learning the same lesson, the hard way. "Sri Ramadasu", a devotional film, ran into serious trouble with the board and the censors for a scene depicting the killing of a deer. 

Animal scenes also delayed the release of "Party" and "Sambhavami Yuge Yuge".