Kalia, a Western Hoolock Gibbon that lived for 40 years in Digbol, Assam, with the village she had adopted. She was one of the rarest primates on this planet, and India's only ape. Bengaluru-based camerapersons Nikhil Virdi and Nitye Sood have made a 12-minute film, Kalia – The Lost Gibbon on her life. The film will be screened to her grieving family in Assam and released online, marking the institutionalization of World Hoolock Gibbon Day by the locals there, in memory of Kalia.

Kalia's story began when she and her parents were chased out of their homes by immigrants who began chopping down trees. They took to the ground to find new shelter. When a dog attacked baby Kalia, local Bhupeshwar Ningda protected her. From that day on, the Gibbon family adopted Ningda, staying in the village with the family. When Kalia's father was poached and her mother killed by schoolkids throwing stones at her, Ningda became Kalia's everything.

Over time, Kalia started accepting others in the community, and within 10 years, she was everyone's friend. She even adapted to the ways of humans, such as learning not to waste food. Bhupeshwar Ningda's genial face breaks into a smile as he recounts how Kalia became a family member. Others in the village have shared their anecdotes about Kalia, describing her as an "adorable lady," and someone who would go 'Hooloo!'

Sood and Virdi met Kalia and shot footage of her in December 2015, intending to make a film about her unique relationship with humans. However, on January 14, 2016, she bit a boy who had teased her with a catapult three months earlier, taking her much-delayed revenge. In retaliation, the boy's father smacked her on the forehead with a shovel, and that was it. Sood and Virdi went back to Digboi in March to shoot a film that would do justice to her life.

While the village still mourns her, Sood and Virdi hope the film will create awareness about the Western Hoolock Gibbon, which is one of the rarest primates on the planet. Virdi says, "when we think of apes, we think of orangutans and gorillas. People need to know about the Western Hoolock Gibbon too. Apes, after all, share 98 per cent of our DNA."