The Elephant Whisperers
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The Elephant Whisperers” a short documentary film directed by Kartiki Gonsalves is an Oscar Winning Film for the year of 2023. The film narrates a story of elephants and their lives through the forests in the sectors of South India.
The film opens up with Bomman, a Kattunayakan as he describes himself looking through the greenery of the forest and as the camera pans up to show the natural wildlife beyond its scales. A “Kattunayakan is known to be the “Kings of the Forest” as Bomman fills us in with this information as the forest is his home and he lives with the wild animals.
The film shows us the beautiful personification of wildlife through its naturality and amazing camera scoping. The visuals of cheetahs in the grass, and peacocks on branches and other birds in the vicinity hit straight on point for any viewer. A totally peaceful and amazing view at the same place. After a spectacle of eyecatchers, we come back to the story of a baby elephant named “Raghu” who is being taken care of by Bomman and his wife Bellie. An adorable bond between the baby elephant “Raghu” and the couple is shown.
The baby elephant taking baths, and listening to Bomman’s instructions, Bomman feeding him with food and keeping him at his perfect health, the film does not miss even the slightest chance to visualize and emphasize their close love and care for each other. There is a point in the film, where Raghu all of a sudden stop eating, and the reason being he is looking at a coconut in front of him, and he wants to be feeded that, probably his favorite food. He keeps his cute little stubborn attitude as a kid on, as a feast to the viewers, to get fed that small coconut.
We get to know about how Raghu comes to the aid of Bomman, as he describes us that he was found on the shore, with bruises and wounds all over his body, and maggots feeding on him, terribly ill, but the couple thought of giving him a chance to heal. He was brought back to health and treated as their own kid. They are called up from the forest reserve to take in another elephant to take care of who they name as “Ammu.”
The jealousy of Raghu at the initial stages, when Ammu appeared to be cared for more is portrayed beautifully. As the time crosses, they grow up to be friends and act as a part of a family. They play with footballs as they kick them with their little feet.
Things start becoming a little sad, when Raghu is taken by the forest reserve and the couple even with their desperate attempts, fail to hold him back with them. Ammu lets out sad cries as he tries to hold his big brother back, but with a heart filled with sadness gives up with no option. Many days pass by, as the couple is in remorse and are not even able to eat properly in their sad minds, at the same time, Ammu also avoids food and holds on to the couple’s arms longing with his grieve stricken heart for Raghu.
The film tells us a brief story about elephants and it is us humans who are making their life hell by cutting down forests, as they are coming down roaming into villages that is endangering their lives and humans too. Elephants are termed to be wild animals, but it never appears so when you get to know them correctly. Bomman and Bellie, and their generations to come , care for all the elephants they approach, but they are sad that they can’t save all the elephants on their own. It should be every human’s thought processing and mindsets for making a change.
Gaurav Dutta is a B.com graduate from Kolkata, schooling from St. Joseph’s College having a passion for writing since childhood. On the other hand, he also excels in the career of accounting and finance. A writer by his own choice, and aims to make a mark in the gaming industry through his coding abilities.
