Guneet Monga-Kartiki Gonsalves on Oscar-nominated ‘Elephant Whisperers’

A country like India has interesting stories in every corner and there is a need to nurture storytellers believe Kartiki Gonsalves and Guneet Monga the directorproducer team behind Netflixrsquos Oscarnominated documentary The Elephant WhisperersThe around 39minutelong documentary is among the three titles vying for an Oscar on Sunday It is the Documentary Short segment Shaunak Senrsquos ldquoAll That Breathesrdquo another story on climate change is nominated in the Documentary Feature category while ldquoRRRrdquo song ldquoNaatu Naaturdquo hopes to clinch an Academy Award for the Original SongldquoIndia is so vastly big and therersquos so much to offer from every nook and corner There are stories that are really small that have so much heart like lsquoThe Elephant Whisperersrsquo and then there are beautiful stories like lsquoAll That Breathesrsquo that are in the heart of a cityldquoSo therersquos a big range of stories from across India which really have the potential of going out to the world and being loved by audiences across the oceansrdquo Gonsalves told PTI in a virtual interviewMonga who has worked on films such as ldquoThe Lunchboxrdquo and Oscarwinning short documentary ldquoPeriod End of Sentencerdquo and coproduced this one boarded the project around three years ago when the streamer approached herShe said she was won over by the ldquoempathy and loverdquo that Gonsalves brought to the storyAccording to Monga Indian documentary filmmakers are making great strides internationally and need to be acknowledged for their workldquoThere is definitely a documentary wave in India We have incredible filmmakers here The world is acknowledging that and it needs better structure better funding These filmmakers will continue to make India proud and their work is being loved globallyrdquo she addedThe producer said through ldquoThe Elephant Whisperersrdquo they wanted to highlight the issue of climate changeAlso Read Oscars 2023 Where to watch what to expect who will be thereldquoI donrsquot think a film can bring change but it can get people to value what they are doing and how they can be better and what is their footprint on this earth Of course the nomination helps in the publicityrdquo Monga saidAccording to Gonsalves stories are at the heart of human existence Her debut project began with a simple curiosity that she had when she spotted a man walking alongside the road with an elephant calf during her journey from Bangalore to OotyShe immediately parked her car on the side of the road and followed the pair as they went for their bath in the riverThe elephant calf was Raghu whose mother was electrocuted after their herd travelled to a nearby village during a prolonged drought Separated from his herd Raghu seemed to have found substitute parents in Boman and Bellie a couple from an indigenous tribeldquoThis movie began with a bittersweet beginning with the death of Raghursquos mother But I wanted the story to be positive and to not focus on all the depressing parts when therersquos so much beauty and this beautiful unusual family dynamicldquoI just wanted people to be able to understand elephants on a deeper level And to also recognize how similar they are and how intelligent elephants are which would eventually help people to want to protect them and the landscaperdquo she saidThe filmmaker also hoped to highlight the importance of indigenous people and their role in preserving wildlifeGonsalves said when there are so many stories about the danger of animals she was keen to show the love and connection they have with humansldquoThat was the core idea with this documentary because the elephant is such a large animal and they need to be treated with respect and theyrsquore capable of lifelong bonds I hope that people will start seeing them as one of us and not as the otherrdquoAlso ReadViral BTS Jungkook grooves to Naatu Naatu leaves desi ARMY in massive frenzy WATCHThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever