An Oscar Award winning documentry The Elephant Whisperers full story.

The Elephant Whisperers a documentary by Gonsalves has been nominated for the 95th Academy Awards in the category of Documentary Short Film. At that point, Raghu, a baby elephant injured and separated from its herd, was placed under Bomman and Bellie’s care. She raises subtle but important comments about the ongoing human-animal conflict. Bomman, Bellie, and their elephant child Raghu reside in the center of the Theppakadu Elephant camp at the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve, right across the Mayar River and surrounded by the Nilgiris.

Bomman and Bellie are members of the native Kattuanayakan tribe, sometimes known as the “king of the jungle” people since they still hunt and gather in the south Indian forests. Bomman’s grandfather and father both cared for elephants and spent their entire lives honoring the rules of man-animal cohabitation, just like him. Bomman was raised surrounded by elephants and soon after his father’s passing, he began working as an elephant caretaker. Bellie, on the other hand, was the only woman in Tamil Nadu who was tasked with raising baby elephants.

The jungles have always been the setting for all of their victories and tragedies; Bellie’s husband was killed by a tiger assault, and Bomman was forced to cease working with adult elephants after being stabbed by a tusker. When Raghu entered their care, his life had also been shattered; his mother had died by electrocution, leaving him devastated and reclusive. Hardly everyone believed he would survive. But Bomman and Bellie persisted in their efforts to treat him and bring him back to health. More significantly, they recognized that Raghu needed to feel a feeling of belonging to survive. Bomman and Bellie thus took care of him as if he were family for the following three years, becoming his parents.

When their family grows, Bomman and Bellie are tasked with taking care of Ammu, a young calf who becomes Raghu’s new sister. This makes Bomman and Bellie the “first couple to successfully raise two orphaned elephants in South India,” according to the documentary. Bomman and Bellie are the only ones who speak in the documentary, and while they recount their relationship with Raghu, their discussion of how humans interfere with nature is woven throughout the narrative.