While the world is jamming on Naatu Naatu let us not forget that India’s ‘The Elephant Whisperers’ roared at the Oscars. A documentary film by two Indian women bagged the best documentary honour at Oscars 2023. This is the first time an Indian production is winning the honour in this category.
India created history at the 95th Academy awards
The elephant whispers to get the first Oscar for an Indian production. The film was helmed by two Indian creators, Kartiki Gonsalves and Guneet Monga has won the Oscars for best documentary in the short subject category and is the third to be nominated after ‘The House that Ananda Built’ in 1969 and ‘An Encounter with Faces’ which competed for best documentary short in 1979.
‘Two women did this!,’ said producer Guneet Monga after the historic win, director Kartiki Golsalves credits the victory to ‘Motherland India’.
Read More: Indian cinema at Oscars: ‘Naatu Naatu’ makes history
Kudos from India
It’s a proud moment for India and social media is flooded with congratulatory messages.
PM Modi cheered for the crew and said their work wonderfully highlights the importance of sustainable development and living in harmony with nature.
Congratulations to @EarthSpectrum, @guneetm and the entire team of ‘The Elephant Whisperers’ for this honour. Their work wonderfully highlights the importance of sustainable development and living in harmony with nature. #Oscars https://t.co/S3J9TbJ0OP
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) March 13, 2023
Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman also congratulated the Whisperers team and said, “A word of special appreciation for the 2 darling elephants –Raghu and Ammu”.
Rahul Gandhi took to Twitter to congratulate the winners. He wrote, “These two women have made India proud with their heart-warming showcase of the beauty and importance of wildlife conservation.
Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu felt extremely proud of Kartiki Gonsalves & team.
Notable names like Piyush Goyal and Laksshya Advani are also on the list of people to wish kudos.
Loud and clear!
Congratulations to #TheElephantWhisperers for the win at the #Oscars pic.twitter.com/EnOaTTtGfi
— Piyush Goyal (@PiyushGoyal) March 13, 2023
The Elephant Whisperers is about…
The Elephant Whisperers is set in the Mudumalai National Park and revolves around an orphaned elephant calf named Raghu. The calf is in the care of an indigenous couple, named Bomman and Bellie. The Tamil documentary is a moving account of an animal and human connection. They have devoted their lives to protecting him from poachers and raising him.
Bellie, the Elephant keeper from the documentary rejoiced over this big win. “The people of the forest department and the Adivasi people are very happy that our documentary has won an Oscar. No one has ever done anything like this in Mudumalai”, said Bellie Amma in an interview with The Indian Express.
She further added, “We may not know much about the outside world here in the jungle. It’s all thanks to raising these baby elephants that this happened.
Gurneet Monga had previously served as an executive producer on ‘Period. End of Sentence’, which won the 2019 Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Film.
The movie was the directorial debut of Kartiki Gonsalves. Kartiki had a successful career as a wildlife and social documentary photographer, cinematographer, and photojournalist. She left her sinecure job for her maiden venture.
My heartiest congratulation to all Whisperers team! More power to you.
