Kartiki Gonsalves, a former student of GRD College of Arts and Science (Visual Communication Department) Coimbatore, won her first Oscar for Netflix’s ‘The Elephant Whisperer’ in the Best Documentary Short Subject category at the 95th Academy Awards 2023 held at Dolby Theatre, Los Angeles on Sunday. The Elephant Whisperers was directed by Kartiki Gonsalves and produced by Guneet Monga.
The story was set in the Mudumalai National Park and is the tale of an orphaned elephant calf named Raghu in the care of Bomman and Belli, an indigenous couple. The story highlights the beauty of man and animals working together in a positive way. It also explores the life of the tribal people in harmony with nature. It was said that to take this documentary, took over 450 hours and that was covered over a duration of 5 years from 2017 till September 2022. The film was released by Netflix globally on 8 December 2022 for streaming. It is notable that, earlier this documentary was nominated for Hollywood Music in Media Awards (2022) and IDA Documentary Awards (2022) and shortlisted in DOC NYC Awards.