Elephant festival in Kerala

(3 May 2007)
1. Wide of elephants coming out of the temple
2. Wide of decorated elephants standing in a row and crowd cheering
3. Elephants with decorative traditional headgear
4. Crowd standing in the sun with umbrellas
5. Image of deity being hoisted on the back of an elephant
6. Elephants standing with umbrellas on their heads
7. Various of drummers and flautists playing in front of the elephants
8. Pan from wide of umbrella to mid of umbrella
9. Elephants moving in procession
10. Pan over crowd
11. Wide of elephants standing with umbrellas held over their head
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Julia,Tourist :
"It's crazy but it's very beautiful and the elephants are magnificent."
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Bernhard,Tourist :
"Very colourful people, very great atmosphere. I think the old culture of India and well it's very loud. Very, very different and strange noises for me. And the elephants, ok, they are very strange for us in Austria."
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Iain,Tourist :
"For me, it's very different to anything I have seen before. It's not every day that you see elephants in our country so it is just flamboyance and colourful and loud. Yeah, its quite impressive really."
15. SOUNDBITE (English) Lucy,Tourist :
"Something certainly that I shall hold with me forever. We got many, many photographs and we have been talking to many, many people and certainly something I shall take home with me and hold with me for the rest of my life, I guess."
16. Various of masks being carried through the crowd
17. Wide of crowd cheering the elephants
18. The umbrella changing ceremony taking place
19. Various of elephants and crowds
20. SOUNDBITE (English) K.V. Santhosh, Kerala tourism official :
"This is one of the mega event, not only in Kerala, not only for Thrissur but for the entire world. People from all around the world who comes here and watches this Pooram. This Pooram is the main promotional item for Kerala tourism, in the tourism map and all around the world."
21. Mahout (elephant trainer) taking off elephant's headgear
22. Various of elephants drinking water and bathing
23. Medical team examining elephant
24. Ambulance windscreen saying 'Elephant Emergency and Critical Care Unit'
25. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. K.N. Muralidharan Nair, Veterinarian :
"We will examine all the elephants to know whether they are in good condition, whether they are suffering from any other disease and whether they are totally healthy for the festival. If they show any sign of excitement, sign of 'mast' (aggression during breeding season) or if there are any wounds or anything in the body then we do not allow such elephants to participate in the festival. So they must be totally healthy, normal in behaviour and habits."
26. Various of elephant charging towards crowd with policeman in the foreground
27. Drummers playing
28. Crowd listening
29. Women moving their heads in rhythm with the music
30. Wide of temple spire lit up by electric lights
31. Fireworks in the sky with men watching in the foreground
LEAD IN:
The 'Pooram' festival held in Thrissur, the highlight of Kerala's tourist calendar, is an experience that combines religious imagery with traditional performance art.
The presiding deity at the Thrissur temple is the popular Hindu god Shiva but for many the stars of the show are elephants.
STORYLINE :
The 'Pooram' festival is held at the Vadakkunnatha temple of Thrissur, which is built in the ancient Kerala architectural style with stone sculptures and multi level roofs.
The event is a heady mix of spirituality and vibrant rhythms.
Keyword-animals wacky

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