Amitabh Bachchan, Mahesh Bhatt, Sanjay Dutt and Dia Mirza are on a mission: save leopards, save the environment.
From July 8, National Geographic will telecast Leopards Of Bollywood, a documentary produced by Miditech, the software vendor in health care informatics.
"They [leopards] need to be given their own environment. Just as humans need their own space, leopards too need theirs," says Bachchan in the documentary that will be telecast on July 8 at 2100 IST on National Geographic.
"In reel life, leopards are depicted as villains. But in real life, human encroachment and high rise building are hemming in their homes. Their homes are shrinking and therefore they are coming in conflict with man," says filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt.
The Hindi film industry decided to step in after leopards staying near the Sanjay Gandhi National Park in the Mumbai suburb of Borivali began venturing out of the reservoir and attacking human beings.
The situation has turned worse in June 2004. Leopards have killed six humans in and around the suburbs of Mumbai.
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In the last three years, construction activities in and around the National Park have increased rapidly. Many slums have sprung up, too, reducing the scope for leopards to move around freely.
Since 2001, there have been 65 cases of attacks by leopards in suburban Mumbai. Thirty-three people have died so far.
Animitra Chakravarty, director of Leopards Of Bollywood says, "A year ago, I was reading about leopards attacking human beings in and around the Sanjay Gandhi National Park. I thought, why not then make a documentary and highlight this problem? We started shooting the film last year. At that time, the situation was not very serious. We have to find a solution to this problem soon. If we don't, there will be a big crisis for people living around that area."
It wasn't easy for Animitra and his team to make this concept come true. It took him nearly a year to complete the documentary. Recalling the tough times, supervising producer Pria Somiah says, "We had many tragic moments during the making of this story. We were living in National Park while making this film. 
There were very many difficult times. A leopard snatched a child once. It was tragic. We also interviewed the parents of a child who was killed by a leopard."
"Relocating leopards is not the solution. The solution is to save the National Park. It is the green lung of Mumbai city," she adds.
Leopards Of Bollywood was slated to release after four months. "We advanced the release date because the issue is very topical. Everyone is interested in knowing the problem of leopards in that region and wants a solution," says Dilshad Master, senior vice president, content and communications, National Geographic Channel.
Amitabh Bachchan, Mahesh Bhatt, Sanjay Dutt and Dia Mirza are on a mission: save leopards, save the environment. 
There were very many difficult times. A leopard snatched a child once. It was tragic. We also interviewed the parents of a child who was killed by a leopard."
