The Elephant Whisperers
OSCAR award winning Indian documentary short film on Man-Animal bonding and co-existence
The Elephant Whispers unfolds almost like a children’s tale. We see a forest, a couple, an orphaned young elephant, and their lives. When another baby elephant enters the household, the earlier one throws a jealous tantrum.
But the documentary film reveals to us a great deal more than that.
Threats to wildlife from careless and unsustainable development and climate change, conflicts between humans and animals, love between them, the possibility of living together peacefully, etc.
The Elephant Whisperers tells the story of an indigenous couple named Bomman and Bellie who are entrusted with an orphaned baby Indian elephant named Raghu. They take great pains to ensure that the fragile, injured infant survives and grows to be a healthy juvenile. A strong bond develops between the couple and the elephant. Set in the Mudumalai National Park in the state of Tamil Nadu, India, the documentary also highlights the natural beauty of the location. It explores the life of the tribal people in harmony with nature.
The director Kartiki Gonsalves spent five years following a human-elephant blended family belonging to the Kattunayakan tribe to make this documentary. As she stated, “I met Raghu [the baby elephant] when he was exactly three months old,” She added, “I spent about a year and a half with him when he was a tiny baby before this became a documentary.”
The film is not just a heart-touching story of a bond between animal and human and co-existence, but also showcases Indian culture and the traditions of environmental conservation.
The film whispers and doesn’t shout, but it conveys a deeper message to us.
