'The future is audacious.' 'The Elephant Whisperers' producer Guneet Monga celebrates first-ever Oscar for an Indian production house

'The Elephant Whisperers', a heartwarming tale of an abandoned elephant and his caretakers, won an Oscar in the Best Documentary Short Film category.

Backed by Sikhya Entertainment, the 41-minute-long documentary became the first film from an Indian production house to win an Oscar. It also marks film-maker Kartiki Gonsalves's directorial debut.

'The Elephant Whisperers' beat documentaries like 'Haul Out,' 'How Do You Measure A Year?', 'The Martha Mitchell Effect,' and 'Stranger At The Gate' to take home the honour.


Producer Guneet Monga, who attended the awards ceremony with Gonsalves, took to social media to celebrate the women who made India proud.

"My heart is full of love and excitement, most of it imbibed from everyone in India cheering for our win. So grateful to the visionary film-maker Gonsalves and to Netflix who gave us the biggest stage in the world. This is for my beautiful, diverse country, India," she wrote in her caption.

In another tweet, she shared a few encouraging words for the women who want to tell stories. "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," she added.

https://twitter.com/guneetm/status/1635181199860838400?s=20

Monga also thanked her crew and husband for their support.

"Tonight is historic as this is the first-ever Oscar for an Indian production. India’s Glory with two women. Thank you, Mom, Dad, Guruji, Shukrana. To my co-producer Achin Jain, Team Sikhya, Netlflix, Aloke, Sarafina, WME Bash Sanjana. My lovely husband Sunny. Happy three-month anniversary baby! Kartiki for bringing & weaving this story. To all the women watching… The future is audacious and the future is here. Let’s go!" Monga had posted when the award was announced.

https://twitter.com/guneetm/status/1635120197081399299?s=20

In her winning speech, Gonsalves got emotional as she thanked the Academy for recognising their film. She said, "I stand here today to speak on the sacred bond between us and our natural world. For the respect of indigenous communities. For entity towards other living beings, we share our space with. And finally for co-existence. Thank you to the academy for recognizing our film highlighting indigenous people and animals. To Netflix for believing in the power of this film. To Guneet my Producer and my entire team and finally, to my mother father and sister who are up there somewhere, you're the centre of my universe. To my motherland India."

The plot of 'The Elephant Whisperers' revolves around a family who adopts two orphan baby elephants in Tamil Nadu's Mudumalai Tiger Reserve.