Cinemaazi celebrates World Wildlife Day
3 Mar 2026
Today on World Wildlife Day, we celebrate the efforts to raise awareness against animal cruelty and for the protection of ecological biodiversity around the world. Like all human beings, animals have equal rights over this earth.
Like other art mediums, animals have featured widely in cinema. Sometimes as companions to the protagonist or as dangerous obstacles for the hero/heroine and on occasion as the lead. We have been treated to animals performing superheroic deeds and to heartwarming tales of friendship. There was Fearless Nadia's horse Punjab Ka Beta and dog Gunboat who aided her in vanquishing her foes. The chimpanzee Pedro (often credited as Pedro the Ape Bomb) starred in many a wild stunt adventure. Zippy the chimp caused a stir when he arrived in India to star in S S Vasan's Insaniyat (1955) alongside Dilip Kumar and Dev Anand. Lions, elephants and rhinoceros starred in Sandow M M A Chinnappa Thevar's Deiva Cheyal (1967). That film may have failed commercially, but its remakes Haathi Mere Sathi (1971) and Nalla Neram (1972) achieved great success. Snakes have been featured widely in the Nagin films genre. In both Parivar (1987) and Aankhen (1993) monkeys appear as important characters. Some of these charactershave forever become associated with classics like Basanti's mare Dhanno in Sholay (1975) or the pigeon in Maine Pyar Kiya (1989). Who can forget Goopy Bagha's consternation as they come face to face with a tiger in Hirak Rajar Deshe (1980) and sing Paye pori bagh mama to placate it? In Teri Meherbaniyan (1985) it was the dog Brownie who played the lead.
While we enjoy their appearances in films, it is often accompanied by incidents of abuse and exploitation. Animal welfare organisations have campaigned to disallow animals from being used like props in films and such practices are now outlawed. Still such practices continue in some cases. It is our duty to be aware and prevent their exploitation for the purposes of entertainment.
Like other art mediums, animals have featured widely in cinema. Sometimes as companions to the protagonist or as dangerous obstacles for the hero/heroine and on occasion as the lead. We have been treated to animals performing superheroic deeds and to heartwarming tales of friendship. There was Fearless Nadia's horse Punjab Ka Beta and dog Gunboat who aided her in vanquishing her foes. The chimpanzee Pedro (often credited as Pedro the Ape Bomb) starred in many a wild stunt adventure. Zippy the chimp caused a stir when he arrived in India to star in S S Vasan's Insaniyat (1955) alongside Dilip Kumar and Dev Anand. Lions, elephants and rhinoceros starred in Sandow M M A Chinnappa Thevar's Deiva Cheyal (1967). That film may have failed commercially, but its remakes Haathi Mere Sathi (1971) and Nalla Neram (1972) achieved great success. Snakes have been featured widely in the Nagin films genre. In both Parivar (1987) and Aankhen (1993) monkeys appear as important characters. Some of these charactershave forever become associated with classics like Basanti's mare Dhanno in Sholay (1975) or the pigeon in Maine Pyar Kiya (1989). Who can forget Goopy Bagha's consternation as they come face to face with a tiger in Hirak Rajar Deshe (1980) and sing Paye pori bagh mama to placate it? In Teri Meherbaniyan (1985) it was the dog Brownie who played the lead.
While we enjoy their appearances in films, it is often accompanied by incidents of abuse and exploitation. Animal welfare organisations have campaigned to disallow animals from being used like props in films and such practices are now outlawed. Still such practices continue in some cases. It is our duty to be aware and prevent their exploitation for the purposes of entertainment.
