PM Narendra Modi Meets With Guneet Monga, Kartiki Gonasalves And Lauds Their Oscar Win For The Elephant Whisperers
On March 12, The Elephant Whisperers directed by Kartiki Gonsalves won the Oscar for Best Documentary Short at the 95th Academy Awards.
She and producer Guneet Monga went up on the stage to receive their award. Since their return to India, Guneet and Kartiki have been attending several functions and awards shows where they were hailed for the Oscar win.
On Thursday, the two, along with Netflix’s vice president of content Monica Shergill, met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He congratulated the team on their success and add that they made India proud with their win.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted, “The cinematic brilliance and success of ‘The Elephant Whisperers’ has drawn global attention as well as acclaim. Today, I had the opportunity to meet the brilliant team associated with it. They have made India very proud. @guneetm @EarthSpectrum.” In the photos shared by the Prime Minister, he can be seen posing with the Oscar trophies and met up with The Elephant Whisperers team to talk to them about the film.
The Tamil docu-short follows human caretakers named Bomman and Bellie as they take care of young orphaned elephant calves Raghu and Ammu at an elephant camp in Tami Nadu. The film made history at the 95th Academy Awards by becoming the first Indian production to win in the Documentary Short Subject category.
After the documentary won the Oscar, Guneet had said in a statement, “Tonight was powerful and historic as two women from India stood on the Oscars stage, lauded for their work. I’m so proud of The Elephant Whisperers, so proud of this moment and proud of my amazing team at Sikhya Entertainment.
That an independent production house from India has made history and produced the first ever Indian film to win an Oscar, still feels unreal. My heart is full of joy, love and excitement, most of it imbibed from everyone in India cheering for our win. I’m so grateful to the visionary filmmaker Kartiki Gonsalves and to Netflix who gave us the biggest stage in the world, believing in us all the way. To women who want to tell stories, the future of cinema is audacious, the future is here. This is for my beautiful, diverse country, India.”