Tigress Tara was killed in 1980 after she became a menacing man-eater devouring 22. After Richard Parker, the Royal Bengal tiger in the Life of Pi, made it big on the international movie circuit, a tigress is all set to storm Bollywood. The hugely controversial tigress, Tara, which was killed in 1980 after she turned into a menacing man-eater, will be recreated in celluloid. The prospective movie is based on the book ‘The story of genetic pollution of the Indian tigers: Tara the cocktail tigress’ written by Dr Ram Lakhan Singh, renowned conservationist and wildlife expert. Singh confirmed to DNA that the film is indeed in the making.

The film’s production unit, including the director and script writer Nikhant Bhatti, was here to discuss with Singh the nuances of the film. Singh, founding director of the Dudhwa National Park, and former director, Project Tiger, New Delhi, had raised some vital ecological issues in his book. The tigress had been brought from London in 1976 by renowned tiger expert the late Billy Arjan Singh when she was just four months old. He was close to the Gandhi family and had brought the tigress on the pretext that it was a gift for the then prime minister, Indira Gandhi, from the London zoo. Billy had claimed that the tigress was of Royal Bengal lineage. But this fact was hotly disputed by Dr RL Singh, then Dudhwa director, and several other tiger experts who blamed Billy for “polluting” the Dudhwa tigers’ genes.

Dr Singh has written in his book that Tara was brought to India on a “fake certificate”. Against all wildlife rules, Billy kept Tara at his farm house “Tiger Haven” inside the Dudhwa forest for over 20 months. He used to feed the tigress himself as a result of which it never learnt hunting on its own. So, when a grown up Tara left his house and ventured into the jungle, it started killing humans. One after the other, Tara devoured 22 people in the Dudhwa forest area before Dr RL Singh shot her down in 1980. Billy never accepted the fact that Tara had turned a man-eater, and blamed Singh for killing the wrong animal. Interestingly, RL Singh, who is now member of the steering committee on forest, wildlife and environment of the Central Planning Commission, has asked the film-makers to take utmost care not to portray Billy in a bad light.