The Elephant Whisperers is a 2022 Indian-American Tamil-language short documentary film directed by documentary filmmaker Kartiki Gonsalves in her directorial debut.
About The Elephant Whisperers
The documentary ” The Elephant Whisperers” is about the bond that develops between a couple and an orphaned baby elephant, Raghu, who was entrusted to their care. Produced by Sikhya Entertainment, the film had its world premiere on 9 November 2022 at DOC NYC Film Festival, a film festival for documentaries in the United States.
The film was released by Netflix globally on 8 December 2022 for streaming. It won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Film at the 95th Academy Awards, making it the first Indian film to win an Academy Award in that category.
The Elephant Whisperers tells the story of an indigenous couple named Bomman and Belli who are entrusted with an orphaned baby elephant named Raghu. They take great pains to ensure that the fragile, injured infant survives and grows to be a healthy juvenile. A strong bond develops between the couple and the elephant. Set in the Mudumalai National Park in the beautiful state of Tamil Nadu, India, the documentary also highlights the natural beauty of the location. It explores the life of the tribal people in harmony with nature.
The film is not just a heart-touching story of a bond between animal and human and co-existence, but also showcases Indian culture and tradition of environment conservation.
Kartiki Gonsalves spent five years following human-elephant blended family belonging to Kattunayakan tribe to make this documentary. As she stated, “I met Raghu [the baby elephant] when he was exactly three months old,” she added, “I spent about a year and a half with him when he was a tiny baby before this became a documentary.” While filming documentary her team also photographed other inhabitants of the reserve, including leopards, tigers, and monkeys.
The other four nominees in the category were Haulout, The Martha Mitchell Effect, Stranger At The Gate, and How Do You Measure A Year? The Elephant Whisperers is the first Indian film to win an Oscar in this category and the third to be nominated after The House That Ananda Built and An Encounter With Faces which competed for Best Documentary Short in 1969 and 1979 respectively.
In addition to The Elephant Whisperers, the globally viral Naatu Naatu from SS Rajamouli’s blockbuster RRR won the Best Original Song, and filmmaker Shaunak Sen’s All That Breathes was nominated in the Best Documentary Feature Film category, which was won by Navalny. All the nominees attended the Oscars with the bonus presence of actress Deepika Padukone who was a presenter, the third Indian star to present at the Oscars after Persis Khambatta and Priyanka Chopra. She introduced the live Naatu Naatu performance on stage.
The Oscars were hosted by Jimmy Kimmel (for the third time) at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. Everything Everywhere All At Once won Best Film, Best Actress for Michelle Yeoh, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor for Ke Huy Quan. Brendan Fraser won Best Actor for The Whale.
‘The Elephant Whisperers Win May Force PM Modi Govt Not To Amend Wild Life Act,’ Says Congress MP Jairam Ramesh
Congress MP Jairam Ramesh said that the Oscar win for The Elephant Whisperers may ‘force’ the Narendra Modi-led central government to abandon the ‘elephant-unfriendly’ amendments to the Wild Life Protection Act, 1972, despite the fact that elephants were assigned as a national heritage animal in 2010. “It is wonderful that The Elephant Whisperers has won an Oscar. Maybe this will force the Modi govt not to press ahead with the widely opposed elephant-unfriendly amendments to the Wild Life Protection Act, of 1972. In 2010 the elephant had been declared a national heritage animal,” Jairam Ramesh Tweeted.
The director went on to thank the Academy, producer Guneet Monga, her family and dedicated the win to her “motherland India”.
“I stand here today to speak for the sacred bond between us and our natural world, for the respect of indigenous communities, and empathy towards other living beings we share space with and finally, for coexistence,” Gonsalves said in her acceptance speech.
She added, “Thank you to the Academy for recognising our film, highlighting indigenous people and animals.. To Netflix for believing in the power of this… To Bomman and Belli for sharing their sacred tribal wisdom to Guneet, my producer…”
“My mentor and my entire team and finally, to my mother, father and sister who are up there somewhere and you are the centre of my universe, to my motherland India,” she concluded.
She added, “Thank you to the Academy for recognising our film, highlighting indigenous people and animals.. To Netflix for believing in the power of this… To Bomman and Belli for sharing their sacred tribal wisdom to Guneet, my producer…”
“My mentor and my entire team and finally, to my mother, father and sister who are up there somewhere and you are the centre of my universe, to my motherland India,” she concluded.
Modi in two tweets, congratulated India’s twin Oscars win as other than ‘Naatu Naatu’, ‘The Elephant Whisperers’ also bagged the ‘best documentary’ honour.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Wednesday felicitated Bomman and Belli — who had featured in the Oscar-winning documentary ‘The Elephant Whisperers’,.
The couple, caretakers of elephants at Mudumalai in the Nilgiris district, met the Chief Minister, days after the documentary bagged the Academy Award.
Stalin presented each of them cheques of Rs 1 lakh, besides a shield and shawl to honour them, an official release said.
‘The Elephant Whisperers’, in its 39-minute runtime, depicts an unbreakable bond between two abandoned elephant calves Raghu and Amu and their caretakers, Bomman and Belli. It is produced by Guneet Monga and Achin Jain of Sikhya Entertainment.
The release said the documentary showcased the Tamil Nadu forest department’s functioning and the efforts towards elephant caretaking.
The CM has announced Rs 1 lakh each to the 91 persons working in the two elephant camps in Tamil Nadu — Mudumalai and Anaimalai, it added.
He has also announced Rs 9.10 crore towards constructing houses for them. The elephant camp located in the Anaimalai tiger reserve in Coimbatore district will be upgraded at a cost of Rs 5 crore.
An elephant camp with all required facilities will be established at Savadivayal in Coimbatore district, the release added.
Later, speaking to reporters, Bomman said rearing of elephants was not easy and that they showed the same care to the calves like that being showed to children.
Kartiki Gonsalves, who directed the documentary, expressed joy over Stalin meeting the couple.
“Overjoyed and so proud to see Bomman & Bellie honoured by our honourable Chief Minister @mkstalin after ‘The Elephant Whisperers’ won the first academy award for India for an independent film at 95th Academy Awards,” she said in a tweet.
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