The Tails of Boo-Boo & Cuddly Poo

The Tails of Boo-Boo & Cuddly Poo is a quirky documentary about the plight of stray animals with a focus on cruelty, abandonment, rescue and love.

Our aim is to raise awareness and convey a message about the poor situation of stray animals. This is a joint effort that features several organisations and individuals coming together and the entire project is pro bono i.e. everyone collaborating in front of and behind the camera has waived their fee. It is truly a passion driven film and a labour of love for the voiceless.

The title of the documentary itself states that it is cute and quirky - The Tails of Boo-Boo & Cuddly Poo. The nemonic and character design reflect this. Even the fonts and colour palette are eye pleasing. The word ‘Tails’ is a pun that hints that the documentary will chronicle anecdotes about cats and dogs. ‘Boo-Boo’ is a cat and 'Cuddly Poo’ is a dog and they’re our mascots. These gibberish names origin from terms of endearment that couples use in their romantic moments.

A conscious attempt has been made to shoot only in daylight with a warm and soft look with pastels and we have avoided black as far as possible as I feel that it subconsciously lends to melancholia especially with such a serious and sensitive subject. We would like to think that we have a first of its kind documentary narrative with a unique approach that blends the non-fiction talking heads with various fiction elements - skits, animation, music videos, stand up comedy, game shows, talk shows, infomercials etc. I want this documentary to bring out the inner child in the audience. They should be left with a smile on their face, feeling full of love and warmth.

The universal message of the documentary is about embracing stray dogs and cats - where we are saying that they are like any other pets and that they too need a home; and the specific takeaway is that if you would now like to adopt a pet then here are all the organisations and individuals that can aid you in Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and Thane cities. Of course there are several off shoot topics from here that we address like the hazards of the streets, pedigrees versus strays, illegal breeding, vaccinations, steralizations, feeding, shelters, female versus male, infants versus adults, the disabled and special needs, abandonment, gifting pets, media influences, prevention of cruelty to animals act, police etc etc.

Ultimately I'm hoping this documentary sensitizes the public towards their neighbourhood strays wherein they start calling cats Boo-Boos and dogs Cuddly Poos versus more aggressively toned saala kutta ya billi. So if we are able to educate and inspire the audience in this regard then we have struck gold.