Two Women Bring Glory to India as ‘The Elephant Whisperers’ Wins at the Oscars
Two women, Kartiki Gonsalves and Guneet Monga are over the moon with their Tamil documentary, ‘The Elephant Whisperers, ‘ winning the Oscar for the Best Documentary Short category. It was one of the two Academy Awards India secured at the grand ceremony. It is the first Indian documentary to receive an Oscar in this category.
The documentary’s director, Kartiki Gonsalves, is a filmmaker and photojournalist whose work revolves around nature, wildlife, and the environment.
Accepting the award, she said, “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.”
This is the second Academy Award experience for the producer, Guneet Monga. She was the executive producer of the Oscar-winning Best Short Documentary, ‘Period. End of Sentence,’ which won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Film in 2019.
She co-produced ‘The Elephant Whisperers’ with Achin Jain of Sikhya Entertainment. The documentary focuses on the unconditional bond between two elephant calves, Raghu and Amu, and their caretakers, Bomman and Belli.
India won the second Oscar for the Best Original Song category. ‘Naatu Naatu’ song from SS Rajamouli’s RRR continues to take the world by storm as the song fetched the second Academy Award for India.
However, Shaunak Sen’s ‘All That Breathes’ unfortunately failed to take home the prestigious award in the Best Documentary Feature Film category.
Daniel Roher’s ‘Navalny’ triumphed over the other nominations, including ‘All the Beauty and the Bloodshed,’ ‘Fire of Love, ‘A House Made of Splinters,’ and ‘All That Breathes.’
