Sometimes during the second half of the nearly 13-minute-long documentary, the male tiger glares back into the camera after an aggressive mating dance with the female. For a second, we freeze too despite watching this video within the safe confines of our suburban home. It is dramatic footage of two royal Bengal tigers tease, engage and arouse each other at a muddy water body in Ranthambore. The bristling of dry leaves and swaying of branches from a stiff breeze is the only soundtrack on that summery day in June 2018. Hamir, accompanied by his father, Valmik Thapar, noted wildlife conservationist and author, had spent five hours in the heart of Rajasthan's famous national park to capture this wild encounter.

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"That was the moment when I felt fear as we drove up to them. The male snarled back at us," says the YouTube video filmmaker, while recalling the same frame that had us recoil; except that his narrative is filled with excitement. Hamir posted this video, titled Ranthambore's tigers: The Mating Games, a couple of weeks ago, and it has already received rave reviews.