Kartiki Gonsalves’s ‘The Elephant Whisperer’, became the first Indian production to win an Oscar. Right since the announcement of the award, the documentary and the makers have been receiving praise for the achievement. Meanwhile, a piece of news shared on social media has sparked controversy and angered a section of Indians.
Several social media users stated that the old couple which is featured in the documentary has not yet been shown the piece. The lack of acknowledgment given to the Adivasi couple from Tamil Nadu Bomman and Bali has also become a matter of contention for a section of audiences.
Bomman from #ElephantWhisperers is yet to watch #Oscar winning docu on @netflix.
He is inside a forests in Dharmapuri in search of 2 other baby 🐘 after their mothers died of electrocution last week.#AcademyAwards #netflix https://t.co/Eic7CqgcMM
— Divya Chandrababu (@bydivyac) March 13, 2023
“Our sorrows remained ours,
they never became theirs.
When we whispered out doubts
they perked their ears to listen,
and sighing,
tweaking our ears,
told us to shut up,
apologize; or else…”~Waharu Sonavane -Adivasi poet on how Savarna appropriate Dalit Adivasi stories (1990)
— Ravi Ratan (@scribe_it) March 14, 2023
While sharing her article written for the Hindustan Times, journalist Divya Chandrababu wrote that the couple has still not watched the movie that they were a part of.
After the tweet, there were several other users put their views on the same matter. Many stated that this is an example of the appropriation of stories from the suppressed classes of society.
Hello Divya, I’d like to state that they watched the film with me. So this information is incorrect.
— Kartiki Gonsalves (@EarthSpectrum) March 14, 2023
I’d like to address that Bomman and Bellie were the very first people to watch the documentary at a special viewing by me. They live in the core area of the forest and do not have access to streaming channels. https://t.co/W8WYVPFOdp
— Kartiki Gonsalves (@EarthSpectrum) March 14, 2023
However, while responding to the tweet where Chandrababu shared her article, the director of the film Kartiki Gonsalves clarified that the old couple has watched the film. In response to which the writer of the article stated that she got this information after speaking to Bomman, one of the protagonists in the documentary. Divya Chandrababu carried the clarification made by the director of the film in the article.
The Elephant Whisperers is a story of an Adivasi couple who lives in the forests of Tamil Nadu and look after an elephant baby called ‘Raghu’. The Academy Award-winning documentary sheds light on the human-animal relationship through the story of the couple and Raghu.
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