Yashpal Sharma plays a forest officer in Van Rakshak

Yashpal Sharma plays the lead in Pawan Kumar Sharma’s Van Rakshak. The film, which explores the subject of exploitation of nature in the name of development, was released on the ShemarooMe platform yesterday. It also stars Aditya Shrivastava, known for his work in the long-running television show CID.

Sharma said in a statement, “Van Rakshak is a story inspired by a true incident, awakening humankind to its role towards Mother Nature. Humankind is busy exploring life on other planets but ignoring the existing one. The main objective of the film is to awaken people about their motherland, the earth.”

He continued, “The major concern and conflict of the story is development at the cost of nature. The story brings forth the problems of deforestation, especially in the mountains, and highlights the balance of development with nature conservation.”

Van Rakshak also tackles the killing of those who protect forests. “There have been a lot of cases where forest guards are killed brutally," Sharma said. "Hence we thought of taking up this subject. We went to the jungles of Himachal Pradesh for research where we heard of some real incidents and with the help of those we made this whole film. The subject is really different. The song and characters will give you the vibe of Himachal.”