Watch: Tamil Nadu CM Stalin felicitates ‘Elephant Whisperers’

After Kartiki Gonsalves and Guneet Monga's Netflix short documentary 'The Elephant Whisperers' won the Oscars, Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin felicitated the real-life heroes, elephant caretaker couple Bomman and Bellie, in Chennai on March 15.

The documentary is based on the life and work of Bomman and Bellie, who foster elephant calves, Ammu and Raghu.

Kartiki Gonsalves directorial ‘The Elephant Whisperers’ won the Oscars for the Best Documentary Short category at the 95th Academy Awards.

CM Stalin praised the efforts of the couple and gave them Rs 1 lakh each as a sign of appreciation. He also announced to provide Rs 1 lakh each to workers of Theppakkad and Kozhikamuthi Elephant Camps and, Rs. 9.10 crore for building houses.

‘The Elephant Whisperers’ was competing against Haulout, How Do You Measure a Year?, The Martha Mitchell Effect and Stranger At The Gate.

Gonsalves dedicated the prestigious award to ‘my motherland, India’. Guneet, in an Instagram post, wrote, “Tonight is historic as this is the first ever Oscar for an Indian production…”

Produced by Achin Jain and Guneet Monga the short film narrates the story of family from Tamil Nadu’s Mudumalai Tiger Reserve who end up adopting two orphan baby elephants. The 41-minute short shows the unmatched emotions and bonding between the two elephant calves and the family who adopts them.

The short movie was a directorial debut of filmmaker Gonsalves.

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