The official Twitter handle of the President of India shared pictures of the meeting and the caption read, “President Draupadi Murmu met the makers of the Oscar-winning documentary ‘The Elephant Whispers’, Kartiki Gonsalves and Guneet Monga. He congratulated them on winning. Awarded and praised him for showcasing India’s tradition of conservation and living in harmony with nature.”
In one frame, Guneet and Kartiki are seen holding a showpiece elephant with the President. Oscar winning couple calls on PM Narendra Modi on Thursday.
Directed by debutant Kartiki Gonsalves, the 41-minute short documentary film explores the precious bond between Raghu, an orphaned baby elephant, and his caretakers – a mahout couple named Boman and Bailey – who try to protect him from poachers and He dedicates his life to taking care of her.
The project, which is backed by Guneet’s banner Sikh Entertainment, beat four other contenders to bag the statuette in the Best Documentary Short category, making it the first Indian documentary and one of only two Indian productions to win an Oscar (the other being containing ‘rrr’).
‘The Elephant Whispers’ was nominated against ‘Hall Out’, ‘How Do You Measure a Year?’, ‘The Martha Mitchell Effect’ and ‘Stranger at the Gate’.
This is Guneet’s second Oscar win. She previously served as an executive producer on ‘Period’. End of Sentence’, which won the 2019 Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Film.