Guneet Monga, Kartiki Gonsalves meet President Droupadi Murmu after Oscar win for The Elephant Whisperers

A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi, President Droupadi Murmu on Friday met producer Guneet Monga and director Kartiki Gonsalves.

The makers of The Elephant Whisperers. The documentary won the Oscar for the best Documentary Short last month.

The President praised Guneet and Kartiki for promoting the Indian “tradition of conservation and living in harmony with nature” with their film. Guneet had previously co-produced the documentary Period. End of Sentence that won an Oscar award in 2019. Her The Elephant Whisperers is the first Indian production to win in the category.

Sharing pictures of the meeting between the filmmakers and the President, the official handle of the president’s office tweeted, “President Droupadi Murmu met the makers of Oscar winning documentary The Elephant Whisperers, Kartiki Gonsalves and Guneet Monga. She congratulated them on winning the award and praised them for showcasing India’s tradition of conservation and living in harmony with nature.

Earlier in the day, union minister Anurag Thakur met The Elephant Whisperers’ Oscar-winning team at his residence in Delhi. Anurag shared a video with director and cinematographer Kartiki Gonsalves, producer Guneet Monga and Netflix Vice President (Content) Monica Shergill.

The video was captioned as,”Union Minister @ianuragthakur met the Oscar-winning Elephant Whisperers team Kartiki Gonsalves, Director and Cinematographer and Guneet Moonga, Producer. #ElephantWhisperers, a netflix documentary has won the 95th Academy Awards’ Best Documentary Short award. @MIB_India.”

The minister also shared his happiness at meeting them. “The power of India’s storytelling is unmatched! The Elephant Whisperers is a ‘trunk‘ full of heartwarming, socially relevant and cinematographically enthralling masterpiece! Delighted to meet Guneet and Kartiki; and learn about their amazing journey while making this spellbinding documentary.

India is a land of storytellers, a million tales are born each day and some retold for generations. Our regional content has gone global; it is dubbed and enjoyed in every part of the world. India is bustling with stories and a new breed of film makers is hustling to capture them!”

Kartiki Gonsalves’ 41-minute-long documentary movie talks about the bond that an orphaned baby elephant (named Raghu) and his caretakers – mahout couple Bomman and Bellie – share. Bomman and Bellie have devoted their lives to protect him from poachers and raise him.