The Wild Heart of Pangolakha

ISABELLA GURUNG

New documentary shines a spotlight on Sikkim’s rich biodiversity, rare wildlife and culture of coexistence

GANGTOK: A new nature documentary titled ‘The Wild Heart of Pangolakha’ is bringing global attention to the untouched beauty and ecological significance of Pangolakha Wildlife Sanctuary in Sikkim.

Produced by Roundglass Sustain and directed by Biont, the film explores the sanctuary’s dramatic landscapes, ancient Silk Route connections and its rich biodiversity, offering a rare glimpse into one of the Himalayas’ most pristine and lesser-known ecosystems.

Located in Pakyong district, the sanctuary spans an altitudinal range from around 1,500 metres to nearly 4,900 metres, where within a matter of hours the terrain shifts from lush, orchid-filled sub-tropical forests to mist-laden temperate zones and further up to frost-covered alpine scrub.

This unique ecological gradient supports an extraordinary range of flora and fauna, making Pangolakha a vital corridor for rare and elusive Himalayan species.

The documentary captures this “wild heart” through its dense forests, drifting mountain mist and silent valleys, where nature continues to follow an ancient rhythm. It highlights the presence of rare wildlife such as the elusive Himalayan musk deer, red pandas inhabiting the high-altitude canopy, specialised bird species like the fire-tailed myzornis and blood pheasants, and even the snow leopard that roams the higher rocky reaches.

Following the historic Silk Route into these remote mountains, the film presents Pangolakha as both a natural treasure and a conservation priority, shedding light on its fragile ecosystem and the need to preserve its unique biodiversity.

Excerpt from an exclusive interview with SIKKIM EXPRESS…

What inspired your team to document Pangolakha Wildlife Sanctuary and its fragile ecosystem?

Dhritiman, Biont: As a country, India has about 5% protected area coverage, and while Pangolakha is a part of it, a huge amount of wildlife and biodiversity also thrives outside Pangolakha’s protected area. The story of Pangolakha is as much a story of the silk route that runs through the landscape as it is about the wildlife sanctuary. Along this road there are species like the rare Musk deer that are easily sighted, while in other locations they are secretive and extremely difficult to see. This is because there is an acceptance and coexistence of nature in the area, and cultural protection systems in place that make this unique, this is why we decided that this story is crucial and must be documented so that people outside of the region are also aware of this.

However, this is not the only reason. The fact that there is a road through this biodiverse area means that there is a lot more human activity as well, and our focus was to bring awareness to the fact that there is so much wildlife and biodiversity here so that whatever interactions people have with nature need to be responsible. We ask ourselves – why do we want to tell a story? It is not just for entertainment, but to fulfil a purpose that every natural-history story should have – to connect people with nature, bring awareness to issues in the landscape, and to hopefully inspire more responsible action in the future.

Samreen, Roundglass Sustain: For Sustain films, it is important to talk about what doesn’t make it to the mainstream media - what is unseen, hidden, unacknowledged. That’s why stories about lesser known habitats like Pangolakha are important to us.

For someone who hasn’t watched ‘The Wild Heart of Pangalokha/Sikkim Wildlife’, how would you explain the message behind the documentary?

Dhritiman, Biont: Like I mentioned, the story of Pangolakha goes much further than just the wildlife sanctuary, it is also an exploration of the silk route and the continuous wild habitat that follows the road. Pangolakha can be considered a representation, or an example of many places in the Himalayas that are extremely similar – a road flowing through a rich, wild landscape, where species like Red pandas, Musk deer, many kinds of birds, leopards and Black bears in the lower areas, are all present and thriving. And such patches of biodiversity are abundant in the Himalayas, often in and around where people live and work. This is the beauty of India. If we become aware of such habitats in one corner of Sikkim, we will hopefully be able to identify similar ones in other parts of the Himalayas in India and be able to connect with them and be responsible when we travel through them.

Brief on the filming process- pre/production/post. How long did the filming process take

Samreen, Roundglass Sustain: We make films with filmmakers all over the country to bring forth nuanced, lesser-known stories. We extensively mentor the making of the films from inception till release. The making of the films take anything from one year to two years.

Dhritiman, Biont: Our process behind each film is quite unique, in the case of Pangolakha you could say that the pre-production started 20 years ago when I first started to visit the landscape.

While the production of the film took a few months, the stories emerged over the last two decades of exploring, understanding the biodiversity, and interacting and learning from the community in the area, because all the knowledge that was gained over that time shaped those stories. In a way, it was 20 years of recce for the film.

What were the biggest challenges of shooting in Pangalokha?

Dhritiman, Biont: Pangolakha’s elevation is around 2,500 meters, and it is a difficult, steep landscape to explore, not like a wildlife sanctuary in the plains where the terrain is accessible. Filming a story in this landscape need a lot of time spent in the field, knowledge and research of the many different species and different terrains. Since this sort of project is an evolving process, you need to have an understanding of mountain wildlife, the right habitats, and seasons, all the knowledge of a naturalist - which is difficult unless you are able to spend a lot of time there. That is where the local community really helped by sharing their knowledge with us and teaching us many aspects of the landscape, without them we would not have been able to do anything.

Besides this, there are of course the difficulties that come with the terrain, less oxygen in the air, very low temperatures and tough ground to cover. We must be physically very fit in order to work in that landscape.

As mentioned in the text message earlier, ‘At the heart of the film is the mysterious Himalayan musk deer…’ Why did you choose the Himalayan musk deer?

Samreen, Roundglass Sustain: We were very excited by the sighting of the musk deer, such a rare species. We have tried to film the musk deer earlier in the high altitude habitats of Uttarakhand and it was extremely difficlut to shoot the creature then. We finally managed to film it in Pangolakha. It is always exciting to bring to the world the behavior and challenges a species like the musk deer faces today.

Dhritiman, Biont: The Musk deer is a rare, very elusive mammal, it is also not a true deer and is very unique in its behaviour and characteristics. Locally, this deer is known as Kasturi, and in many parts of its range it is hunted for its musk glands. It is unlike any other mammal in Sikkim or the Himalayas, and we want to tell stories of species that are less known, often overlooked.

In Pangolakha, the Musk deer is often seen, sometimes right next to the road! Which shows how comfortable the wildlife is around human activity, because of the coexistence between people and nature. These are the stories we want to tell, stories that connect people with nature and landscapes.

Capturing elusive species like the Red Panda and Snow Leopard requires patience, and your cinematographer is done an incredible job. Can you share this experience or the BTS process?

Dhritiman, Biont: When I first started photographing mountain wildlife, such as red pandas in Singalila, many years ago, it was not easy. There was hardly anything known about their movements, what kind of habitat they preferred, it took me a long time to make good photograph after many failures. It was after learning from each failure, gaining knowledge from the locals and spending a lot of time tracking behaviour that I managed to capture decent photographs. This has been my process while approaching each project so far, gathering information, repeatedly visiting the locations, and slowly understanding patterns of behaviour. All of this knowledge and learning, gained over many years, is what I use as the basis of the photography and filming work that we do now while making our films.

How important is the Eastern Himalayan region in terms of biodiversity and conversation

Dhritiman, Biont: The Eastern Himalayas holds are some of the most biodiverse places on earth, with more than 1000 species of birds, 300 species of mammals and thousands of plants, amphibians, reptiles and insects. And every year more species are discovered. It is also a storehouse of water, so many of our country’s rivers are fed by the mountains. It is critical that we conserve this whole region, for the flora, fauna and also the communities that live and depend on the mountains and the ecology there.

What roles do the local communities and Sikkim’s Forest department play in protecting wildlife in the sanctuary?

Dhritiman, Biont: The Forest Department in Sikkim does tremendous work in Pangolakha, in particular a lot of groundwork with feral dog populations and also managing forest fires in the region. The amount of wildlife and biodiversity, particularly close to the road and around people reflects how much work has gone into conserving the biodiversity there.

The community is also a very important factor in why there is so much wildlife in Pangolakha, due to the acceptance and coexistence and cultural protection that is shown towards nature.

How do documentaries like this help to bridge the gap between scientific conservation and public awareness?

Samreen, Roundglass Sustain: Films and stories are the way we make sense of our world and get to know aspects of our country, its environment and society that otherwise are lost to us. With our films we build connections between people and their natural world and bring to them conservation practices deeply rooted in science and indigenous knowledge.

Dhritiman, Biont: Documentaries, and all visual communication has the advantage of needing no language, and in that way it also breaks barriers of language. It is the strongest way to bridge gaps between people and communities and is the easiest way to inspire people. Unfortunately, there is a huge disconnection between people and the natural world at present, and our goal is to try and dissolve that disconnect as much as we can through these films.

Pangolakha, like all our films that are specially make with Roundglass Sustain are completely free to watch, available online, which is part of our attempt to make the

What message do you hope audience will take from the documentary?

The message of coexistence and acceptance. Awareness of the rich biodiversity in India, the unique and often overlooked species, and also the communities that work to protect them and live alongside them. The culture of protection that we hope will be adopted.

Reviews so far. Release date and streaming platforms

Pangolakha is available online on Roundglass Sustain’s Youtubechannel and website, we want our films to be freely available for viewing. We are also working to hold screenings of the film in the communities around where we have filmed, through people we know and work with in the community.

Are you planning to take the documentary to various film festivals?

Yes, we plan on submitting the film to different wildlife and environment focused film festivals, both national and international.

Are there any other unexplored Himalayan ecosystem in Sikkim that you would document in future?

Of course, Sikkim’s Himalayas are incredibly diverse in landscapes, flora, fauna and culture and there is still a lot we hope to explore and document in the near future. 

* Samreen Farooqui is the Creative Head, Videos, at RoundGlass Sustain

* Wildlife photographer Dhritiman Mukherjee is from Biont Films