The Elephant Whisperers Movie Poster

The Elephant Whisperers

PG
Tamil
December 8, 2022
39min
Status: released

Trailer, Teaser & Videos

The Elephant Whisperers Movie Details:

Country India, United States
Language Tamil, Jennu Kurumba
GenreDocumentary, Short
Release date8 December 2022
Running time39min
Age ratingPG
StarringBellie
Bomman
Directed by Kartiki Gonsalves
Written byKartiki Gonsalves
Priscilla Gonsalves
Garima Pura Patiyaalvi
Produced byGuneet Monga
Achin Jain
Cinematography by Karan Thapliyal
Krish Makhija
Anand Bansal
Kartiki Gonsalves
Edited by Sanchari Das Mollick
Douglas Blush
Music bySven Faulconer
Production CompanySikhya Entertainment
Distributor Netflix

The Elephant Whisperers Movie Cast & Characters:

  • Bellie
  • Bomman

Storyline:

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. They adopt another elephant Ammukutty and eventually have to give up Raghu. Set in the Mudumalai National Park in the border of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu states of India, the documentary also highlights the location’s natural beauty. It explores the life of the tribal people in harmony with nature.

The film is not just a heart-touching story of a bond between animals and humans and co-existence but also showcases Indian culture and tradition of environment conservation.

About The Elephant Whisperers Movie:

The Elephant Whisperers is a documentary film directed by documentary filmmaker Kartiki Gonsalves. The documentary is about the bond that develops between a couple and an orphaned baby elephant, Raghu, who was entrusted to their care.

The documentary follows the story of Bomman and Bellie, elephant caretakers belonging to the Kattunayakan tribe. Director Kartiki Gonsalves stated, “I met Raghu 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 team spent nearly five years living the ongoing story of these caregivers and their baby elephant, working in a verite mode of letting the daily life and events of Bomman and Bellie tell the story of the life of an orphaned baby elephant (and his sudden unlikely sister, Amu!).

Our intention in the process of documenting the journey of the protagonists was to create a fully immersive experience of the traditional elephant caregiver mahouts of southern India, in a way that honours the lifestyle and traditions of the Kattunayakan people, an ancient tribal community that Bomman and Bellie belong to who have been living with elephants for centuries.

The film had its world premiere on 9 November 2022 at Doc NYC Film Festival, a film festival for documentaries in the United States.

The film was released by Netflix globally on 8 December 2022 for streaming. It won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Film at the 95th Academy Awards, making it the first Indian film to win an Academy Award at the Oscars.

On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes website, the film has an approval rating of 100% based on 5 reviews, with an average rating of 7.7/10.

Where to Watch The Elephant Whisperers (Stream)

Netflix
stream

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