Directed by Kartiki Gonsalves and produced by Guneet Monga under her banner Sikhya Entertainment, The Elephant Whisperers created history on Sunday, March 12, by becoming the first-ever Indian production to bag an Oscar when it won the Academy Award for the Best Documentary Short Film Award at the 95th Academy Awards.
The 40-minute documentary The Elephant Whisperers is based on the life of a tribal couple named Bomman and Bellie living in Mudumalai National Park in Tamil Nadu, who devote their lives to caring for orphaned baby elephants named Raghu and Ammu, forging a family like no other.
The dairy brand Amul, known for its quirky topicals on trending subjects, released a special topical celebrating The Elephant Whisperers' Oscars win on Monday evening. The topical showed Kartiki Gonsalves and Guneet Monga with their Oscar statuettes and the elephant Raghu, along with the Amul girl.
However, the cherry on the cake was the title that Amul gave to its topical - Haathi Mere Saathi, which is the name of Rajesh Khanna -starrer blockbuster Hindi film released in 1971. It was the first ever film penned by the legendary scriptwriting duo of Salim-Javed and was based upon the bonds between humans and animals.
Rajesh Khanna's Raju in Haathi Mere Saathi is saved by four elephants, whom he nurtures and cares for during his entire life, similar to the real-life The Elephant Whisperers - Bomman and Bellie, the mahout couple who have been taking care of elephants in Theppakadu Elephant Camp, the oldest elephant camp in Asia.
The Indian documentary beat Haulout from Russia, How Do You Measure a Year?, The Martha Mitchell Effect, and Stranger at the Gate from America to win the Academy Award. It had its world premiere on November 9, 2022, at Doc NYC Film Festival, a film festival for documentaries in the US, and is streaming on Netflix since December 8 last year.
READ | Meet Bomman and Bellie, the tribal couple who inspired India's Oscar-winning short documentary The Elephant Whisperers
