President Droupadi Murmu meets makers of 'The Elephant Whisperers'

NEW DELHI: President Droupadi Murmu met the makers of the Oscar-winning documentary 'The Elephant Whisperers', Kartiki Gonsalves and Guneet Monga on Friday.

The official Twitter handle of the President of India shared the pictures of the meet and the caption read, "President Droupadi Murmu met the makers of Oscar-winning documentary 'The Elephant Whisperers', Kartiki Gonsalves and Guneet Monga. She congratulated them on winning the award and praised them for showcasing India's tradition of conservation and living in harmony with nature."

In one frame, Guneet and Kartiki were holding a showpiece elephant with the President. The Oscar-winning duo met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday.

Helmed by debutant Kartiki Gonsalves, the 41-minute short documentary movie explores the precious bond between Raghu, an orphaned baby elephant, and his caretakers - a mahout couple named Bomman and Bellie - who devote their lives to protect him from poachers and raise him.

The project, which is backed by Guneet's banner Sikhya Entertainment, beat four other contenders to clinch 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 one being 'RRR').

'The Elephant Whisperers' was nominated against 'Haul Out,' 'How Do You Measure A Year?', 'The Martha Mitchell Effect,' and 'Stranger At The Gate'.

This is the second Oscar win for Guneet. She had previously served as an executive producer on 'Period. End of Sentence', which won the 2019 Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Film.