Mumbai: The 18th Mumbai International Film Festival (MIFF) is honoring the illustrious wildlife filmmaker Subbiah Nallamuthu by conferring upon him the much coveted V. Shantaram Lifetime Achievement Award, announced Dr. L. Murugan, the Minister of State for Information & Broadcasting.
“I congratulate Shri Nallamuthu for winning the prestigious award this edition”, said the Minister while interacting with the media at the NFDC complex. MIFF will confer the award upon Shri Subbiah Nallamuthu in recognition of his remarkable contributions to the realm of wildlife filmmaking.
Subbiah Nallamuthu, has made exceptional contributions to wildlife cinematography, earning him global acclaim. An alumnus of the Film and Television Institute of India, he gained prominence with his work on Living on the Edge, India’s longest-running Panda Award-winning environment series. His expertise extends to his tenure with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) as a high-speed cameraman.
His passion for the Royal Bengal Tiger has translated into five tiger-centric international documentaries for National Geographic Channel and BBC. His prolific filmography includes Tiger Dynasty (2012-2013), Tiger Queen (2010) and The World’s Most Famous Tiger (2017). He has made innumerable documentaries on the environment and the interaction between humans and the ecosystem such as Earth File (2000) for BBC World and The World Gone Wild (2001) for Animal Planet. His achievements in wildlife cinematography include the distinction of being one of the first to use 4K resolution for wildlife filming in India.
Subbiah Nallamuthu has won several national and international awards including the five National Film Awards. He is a regular jury member of the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival and has also served as the jury chairman of the Indian Panorama Film Festival (2021).
The prestigious Dr. V Shantaram Lifetime Achievement Award is presented in every edition of MIFF, to a filmmaker for seminal contribution to documentary films and its movement in India. It carries a cash award of 10 lakh rupees, trophy and a citation. Other illustrious recipients of the award in previous years include Shyam Benegal, Vijaya Mulay and other prominent filmmakers. . The award is instituted in memory of legendary filmmaker V Shantaram.