A nonetheless from The Elephant Whisperers.

New Delhi:

The Elephant Whisperers director Kartiki Gonsalves responded to a report claiming the indigenous couple within the Oscar-winning documentary had not but watched the movie. The Elephant Whisperers, primarily based on orphaned elephant calves within the care of Bomman and Bellie, who reside in Mudumalai National Park, received the Oscar for Best Documentary Short Subject on Monday. On Tuesday, Kartiki Gonsalves replied to a tweet on the information report, writing: “I’d like to address that Bomman and Bellie were the very first people to watch the documentary at a special viewing by me. They live in the core area of the forest and do not have access to streaming channels.” Read her tweet here.

In the report, carried by Hindustan Times, Mahout Bomman mentioned that he has been busy caring for elephants and has not discovered the time but to observe the documentary. “I still do not know anything about this [Oscar]. But I understand that it is very important because everyone has been telling me that this earned India much glory. So that means a lot to us,” Hindustan Times quoted Mahout Bomman as saying.

Meanwhile, Kartiki Gonsalves in her winning speech devoted the award to the “motherland”. She mentioned, “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.”

Other documentaries that had been nominated in the identical class had been Haulout, How Do You Measure A Year?, The Martha Mitchell Effect and Stranger At The Gate.