There are stories all around if one knows where to look; and those who find them are sometimes suitably rewarded. Like Kartiki Gonsalves, who won an Academy Award nomination for her short documentary, The Elephant Whisperers, and her achievement is getting the kind of attention documentary films do not usually get.
The film is set in the Mudumalai Forest in Tamil Nadu, where the Theppakadu Elephant Camp has been set up, one the oldest in the country. In this lush emerald green paradise with dream-like views wherever the eye turns, a tribal couple, Bomman and Belli care for an orphaned baby elephant Raghu, who was left in the forest in battered condition. As workers in the camp, it is their job to look after elephants but these two treat Raghu with the tender care a child deserves from parents.
Raghu is like a playful child, who demands to be fed, and spits out the food he does not like; he is bathed by the carers, who pamper and play with the frisky calf. Later another orphaned baby elephant Ammu is assigned to Bomman and Belli, and just like a human child, Raghu throws jealous tantrums, before he accepts Ammu as a playmate.
During the time it took to shoot the film, Bomman and Bellie get married; she has lost her first husband and daughter, and so gives all her devotion to the elephant babies.
Around them, the forest changes colours with the seasons; the sunrises and sunsets are magical; other animals and birds flit in and out of the gorgeous scenery. It must have been the cinematographers’ delight to shoot this film in such a beautiful and peaceful place. Elephant herds move around with their majestic, lumbering walk, looking for food and water; the ones that are unable to—like the orphaned calves—are cared for in the camp. It does, however, need the exceptional level of devotion that the couple give the animals for them to survive.
As Belli says, the baby elephants are like children, only they can’t speak the language. Raghu and Ammu have an endearing cute way of interacting with their human parents. The film took many years to make, and the editing of footage to make it a coherent story must have been tough too, still, it does not look like an overly structured or organised Nat Geo documentary. Its beauty lies in its simplicity, and capturing unscripted, wondrous moments.
Without hammering in the message, The Elephant Whisperers, makes its point about human-animal coexistence, and the many reasons why forests and wildlife habitats need to be protected. It also makes a case for a minimalistic lifestyle and awareness of the unmatched beauty of nature. Elsewhere in the country and the world, urbanisation, greed and climate change are slowly destroying forests. Films like this might just encourage forest and wildlife conservation,
The Elephant Whisperers
Directed by Kartiki Gonsalves
On Netflix
