Hyderabad: In a big win for India, the Guneet Monga-produced Kartiki Gonsalves' short film, 'The Elephant Whisperers' won the 95th Academy Awards for the Best Documentary Short Film. This Tamil documentary is the first Indian project to win an Oscar in five decades since it has been sending movies to Oscars.
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Congratulations to the entire team of #TheElephantWhisperers on winning an #Oscar for the best documentary short!! 🤩🤩. #Oscars
— RRR Movie (@RRRMovie) March 13, 2023 " class="align-text-top noRightClick twitterSection" data="
">Congratulations to the entire team of #TheElephantWhisperers on winning an #Oscar for the best documentary short!! 🤩🤩. #Oscars
— RRR Movie (@RRRMovie) March 13, 2023Congratulations to the entire team of #TheElephantWhisperers on winning an #Oscar for the best documentary short!! 🤩🤩. #Oscars
— RRR Movie (@RRRMovie) March 13, 2023
The Elephant Whisperers is a Netflix production and it tells the story of an indigenous couple named Bomman and Belli who are entrusted with an orphaned baby elephant named Raghu. The documentary took over 5 years and the final film was edited from the footage which has an overall runtime of 450 hours. The documentary dwells on a love tangle between humans and pachyderms. The documentary also captivates the viewers by exploiting the surreal beauty of the forest through its visuals.
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'The Elephant Whisperers' wins the Oscar for Best Documentary Short Film. Congratulations! #Oscars #Oscars95 pic.twitter.com/WeiVWd3yM6
— The Academy (@TheAcademy) March 13, 2023 " class="align-text-top noRightClick twitterSection" data="
">'The Elephant Whisperers' wins the Oscar for Best Documentary Short Film. Congratulations! #Oscars #Oscars95 pic.twitter.com/WeiVWd3yM6
— The Academy (@TheAcademy) March 13, 2023'The Elephant Whisperers' wins the Oscar for Best Documentary Short Film. Congratulations! #Oscars #Oscars95 pic.twitter.com/WeiVWd3yM6
— The Academy (@TheAcademy) March 13, 2023
It all began when I first saw the tiny little elephant calf on the road while I was driving to Bangalore from Ooty. You have an elephant calf walking around holding on to the woman's hand. I saw that there was very special bond. I pulled my car on the side. I jumped out and went joined them to the river, Gonsalves told CNN.
Kartiki Gonsalves had touched upon the topic of the relationship dynamics between humans and animals. This unfolds in a world which is driven by the industrialisation and humans often encroach on the territories of the forest which rightfully belongs to the animals. 'The Elephant Whisperers' is the story of people, who have been generationally working with elephants and they're so aware of the needs of the jungle, according to the producer.
"In the film, there is a beautiful scene which speaks of taking from the Jungle but only to the extent that is needed, and the jungles have enough for everyone. But it is up to us if we take what we need or we hoard. The needs of humans are endless, it is upon us to draw the line and give the respect that animals deserve," she said.
Monga had been previously credited for her role as an executive producer for 'Period. End of Sentence'. It won the 2019 Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Film. "All these stories are rooted. And with the streaming giants discovering and exhibiting Indian content, I can very well say that Indian content is going to explode in a big way on the global scale," Monga had said.
