Pune: When Basanti in the movie Sholay said, "Chal Dhanno, aaj teri Basanti ke izzat ka sawaal hai," the horse galloped away from Gabbar's gang. It wasn't Basanti's order that Dhanno followed, but the behind-the-scenes command of the trainer. Tuffy, the Pomeranian from Hum Aapke Hain Kaun, stole the show by playing cupid to reunite Madhuri Dixit and Salman Khan's characters.

With an increasing number of ad films, documentaries, OTT shows and films involving scenes with animals, there is a huge demand for professional animal consultants to bring perfect animal performers to the silver screen.

Mumbai-based Nasir Khan, 52, runs Animals Films. He has been an animal advisor for 30 years. "My grandfather and father were also in the same field. They worked with Raj Kapoor, Raaj Kumar and many other actors in films like Kohinoor, Pakeezah etc to bring animals to the screen. I have lost count of how many movies I have helped supply animals for," he said.

Each animal advisor or consultant has a huge network of suppliers, trainers, permission agents and breeders they work with.

On receiving a request from the film director or team, the animal consultant works with the director to explain what kind of animal or breed would be best suited for the role, the sequences that could be shot and the timelines for approvals from the Animal Welfare Board.

"We make it very clear from the beginning about what the animal can or can't do so that the animal doesn't suffer if there are high expectations. We also inform the team how the animal should be kept on set and what would be the requirements," Chennai-based Vijay A R, owner, Tamed Pets, said. He has worked on movies like Kabali, Monster and others.

Shankar Narayan Iyer, who runs Alternate Solutions, has been in the field for over 30 years. In his career as an animal consultant, he has often been referred to as Kuttewala or Kabootarwala because of the work he did.

"One of my toughest assignments was to collect 500 rats for a film. The director was paying me Rs 100 per rat, so I took up the assignment thinking that it was good money. I spent many nights looking through gutters for rats. Collecting the rats, cleaning them and presenting them to the team was another challenge in itself," he recalled.

Shankar has done over 300 films and TV commercials. He owns 25-30 dogs, which he keeps at his Badlapur home and has a network of trainers, suppliers to cater to any other requests.

Despite the 3D animal computer graphics, a form of digital art that creates realistic representations of animals, advisors said that demand for real-life animals/birds has picked up post the pandemic.

To prevent cruelty to animals during shoots and to ensure that endangered species are not used, filmmakers need to take pre-shoot permissions from the Animal Welfare Board of India. Documents like the basic application letter, fees, pre-shoot fitness certificate of animals and letter of authorization need to be submitted to the Animal Welfare Board of India before the shoot.

A post-shoot NOC also has to be procured before the film/TV commercial is aired. The board has also imposed a ban on using endangered birds, animals and reptiles in films.

During the year 2022-23, the Board processed and issued pre-shoot permission to 656 films, ad-films, serials out of 876 and post-shoot certificate (NOC) to 1102 films, ad-films, serials out of 1,356, said the annual report of the Animal Welfare Board.

"Animals or birds are typically hired for a specific number of days and the sequences of the entire film are shot in those days. We have to bear per day rental charges of the animals, approval fees and other costs associated with re-take of the scenes etc. Sometimes, we use a combination of computer graphics and real animals in movies," a director working at a production house in Mumbai said.

The cost for renting out dogs for instance, ranges between Rs 6,000-10,000 per day and depending on the breed, work required. "All my dogs have been given basic training like saluting, attack techniques, sitting in a specific way etc. It becomes expensive to maintain the dogs if I don't have too many shoots during the month," Satish Kunder, a dog trainer, who has 10-15 dogs across popularly sought after breeds like German Shepherd, Labrador, Cocker Spaniel, Golden Retriever, Beagle, Shih Tzu etc.

A core part of being an animal advisor is being able to deal with patience, compassion, and a deep respect for animal's natural instincts. It is these unsung heroes who ensure that every chosen furry, feathered, or scaled performer strikes a chord with audiences.