Robin Banerjee – Famous wildlife expert and documentary filmmaker

Robin Banerjee (1908 – 2003) was a well-known wildlife expert, environmentalist and photographer from Baharampur, West Bengal. He was also an artist, painter and documentary filmmaker who made 32 documentaries based on wildlife. He lived in Golahat of Assam. An internationally acclaimed artist, he was a recipient of 14 international awards apart from Padma Shri from government of India in 1971.

Robin Banerjee was born in Bengal. He completed his medical education from Calcutta Medical College, and later continued his studies at Liverpool and Edinburgh. His professional career began in 1937 when he joined Royal Navy in 1937 and also witnessed World War II. In those days he fell in love with a nurse from New Zealand, who died a few months later. After the end of World War, he moved back to India and joined as a medical officer in one of the tea estates of Assam.

Once he happened to visit Kaziranga National Park in the 1950s and fell in love with wild life. He got permanently settled in Golahat. After that he had a new beginning related to nature and wild life, for which he is familiar. His first documentary film was about Kaziranga National Park, and reached Western countries as well. White Wings in Slow Motion, Nagaland, Underwater, Underwater World of Snakes, My Nature etc are some of his documentaries.

Robin Banerjee – Some interesting and less-known facts

1. He was the founder of the NGO – Kaziranga Wildlife Society.

2. He was a recipient of an honorary Doctorate from Assam Agricultural University and an honorary Ph.D. from Dibrugarh University.

3. Local community fondly called him “Uncle Robin”.

4. After his death his house at Golahat was converted to a natural history museum and a tourist spot for wildlife lovers. It was named Uncle Robin’s Museum.