The documentary depicts an unbreakable bond between two elephants and their caretakers.
It is a historic day for India as the Indian documentary film 'Elephant Whisperers' won the Oscar in the 'Best Documentary Short Film' category at the 95th Academy Awards. The documentary depicts an unbreakable bond between two abandoned elephants and their caretakers.
The Netflix documentary bested ''Haulout", ''How Do You Measure a Year?'', ''The Martha Mitchell Effect'' and ''Stranger at the Gate'' to scoop the trophy. Director of the Tamil documentary Kartiki Gonsalves and producer Guneet Monga took centre stage to accept the honour.
Soon after the win, the internet went into overdrive with congratulatory messages. Netflix India wrote, ''Whispers turn to roars! THE ELEPHANT WHISPERERS JUST WON AN OSCAR.''
Team 'RRR' also took to its official Twitter handle to congratulate the 'Elephant Whisperers' team for their win.
Bureaucrat Supriya Sahu wrote, ''What fabulous news..India's 'The Elephant Whisperers' wins #Oscars award for the Best Documentary Short Film. A proud moment for Tamil Nadu Forest Department.''
Indian Forest Service officer Sudha Ramen commented, ''Truly a proud moment for India and Tamil Nadu This true love & the strong bond between the foster parents & the orphaned elephant calf gets one other coveted recognition to Tamil Nadu's conservation efforts and to the Mudumalai Elephant camp.''
Check out some other reactions:
In her winning speech, Kartiki Gonsalves said, "I stand here today to speak on the sacred bond between us and our natural world. For the respect of indigenous communities. For entity towards other living beings, we share our space with. And finally for co-existence. Thank you to the academy for recognizing our film highlighting indigenous people and animals.
To Netflix for believing in the power of this film. To Guneet my Producer and my entire team and finally, to my mother father and sister who are up there somewhere, you're the centre of my universe. To my motherland India."
The Elephant Whisperers, set in the Mudumalai National Park, is the tale of an orphaned elephant calf named Raghu in the care of Bomman and Belli, an indigenous couple. The documentary celebrates not just the bond that develops between them as well as the natural beauty of their surroundings. The Elephant Whisperers was released on Netflix in December 2022.