I saw this on Netflix 2 days prior to the Oscars & absolutely fell in love with the documentary..

The visuals are breathtaking, the emotions are so genuine, the production value is on point, the narrative so engaging & lastly, you end up longing for a part 2 !!

The 2 central character are so caring, down to earth but the main takeaways are specific to how the director humanized this topic into showing the culture of this Indian tribe & how love is the only eternal emotion that transcends everything in this universe..

Special shoutout to Ammu & Raghu who make this documentary so heartwarming!!!

A well deserved Oscars !!

Though it was on my watch list, it was prioritized to the #1 position after it got the Oscars, the first Indian-made documentary film to ever receive that award.

The cinematography capturing the forest & the lives of the elephant maintainers were just mindblowing.

The old couple whose lives were portrayed was so simple & shuttle, though it was very short, the emotional connection they have with the elephant gets us emoted as well

the communication & emotional connection these people have with the elephant was amazingly captured and presented.

The naughtiness of the elephants playing around did bring smiles to our faces.

Documentaries like these should probably be made as feature-length films for greater coverage of mass audiences, if you ask me.

Director Kartiki Gonsalves introduces us to Bomman and Bellie, indigenous Kattunauakans working together to care for Raghu, an elephant rescued as an injured orphan in Tamil Nadu, India in 2019. The elephant preserve where they live and work is run by the Forest Department, and Bomman's hut is right next to the stall where Raghu sleeps.

The love they share for Raghu soon develops into a romance between Bomman and Bellie. They talk to Raghu, train him, feed him, bathe him, play with him, and even tuck him in bed at night. Later when they also become caregivers for 5-month-old Baby Ammu, we can see the similarities to raising human children. Both elephants make it into the wedding day pictures of Bomman and Bellie, but when Raghu is re-assigned to other caregivers, we witness the grieving of the couple, as well as that of Ammu, who has lost a friend and role model. The 41-minute film serves to show how animals and people can live off the same forest and share a love.