The chief minister's announcement came in the wake of the short documentary The Elephant Whisperers winning the Oscar award.
MK Stalin felicitating Bomman and Bellie. (CMOTamilNadu/Twitter)
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin on Wednesday, 15 March, felicitated and awarded a cash award of ₹1 lakh each to Bomman and Bellie, the people on whom the Oscar-winning short documentary The Elephant Whisperers is based on.
The chief minister has also announced that ₹1 lakh each will be given to all the 91 employees at the Theppakkad and Kozhikamuthi elephant camps and allotted ₹9.1 crore for building houses for them.
The elephant camp located in the Anaimalai Tiger Reserve in the state’s Coimbatore district will be upgraded at a cost of ₹5 crore.
An elephant camp with all required facilities will be established at Savadivayal in the Coimbatore district, a release by the chief minister added.
Later, speaking to reporters, Bomman said rearing elephants was not easy and that they showed the same care to the calves as that being shown to children.
Kartiki Gonsalves, who directed the documentary, expressed joy over Stalin meeting the couple.
“Overjoyed and so proud to see Bomman & Bellie honoured by our honourable Chief Minister @mkstalin after ‘The Elephant Whisperers’ won the first academy award for India for an independent film at 95th Academy Awards,” she said in a tweet.
“#TheElephantWhisperers won #AcademyAwards and brought our forestry work to the world. In appreciation of Bomman and Bellie, I gave ₹1 lakh and announced ₹1 lakh each to 91 employees of Theppakkad & Kozhikamuthi Elephant Camps and ₹9.10 crore for building houses,” wrote Stalin on Twitter.
At the 95th Academy Awards, The Elephant Whisperers became the maiden Indian production to win in the Documentary Short Subject category.
The Elephant Whisperers is a short documentary about the tribal couple in Tamil Nadu and their tryst with orphaned baby elephants.
The documentary shows the love and affection that Bellie and Bomman had towards the orphaned elephants, Raghu and Ammu, whom they raised at the elephant camp near the Mudumalai forest in Tamil Nadu.
The film captured the unique bond between the couple and the elephants.
முதுமலை யானைகள் வளர்ப்பு முகாமில் எடுக்கப்பட்ட ஆஸ்கார் விருது பெற்ற ‘The Elephant Whisperers’ ஆவணப் படத்தில் இடம்பெற்ற ரகு எனும் யானைக் குட்டியின் பராமரிப்பாளர்களான திரு. பொம்மன், திருமதி பெல்லி தம்பதியரை
1/2 pic.twitter.com/R56E4hXqHj
— CMOTamilNadu (@CMOTamilnadu) March 15, 2023
“I have reared many such elephants, treated them like my own children, looking after them as a foster mother (valarppu thaai), particularly those who lose their mothers in the jungle,” Belli told PTI after the documentary won at the Oscars.
She further said, “This was in our blood, as our ancestors were also working like that, as described by our grandmother, who comes from a mahout family.”
Belli quipped on the documentary winning an Oscar, “I do not know about the award. But I am very happy and excited as congratulations are pouring in.”
Asked about her “hero and husband” Bomman in the documentary, she said that he had gone to Salem to bring an elephant with a serious problem and was eagerly waiting to serve the new arrival.
The couple works as mahouts at Theppakkadu elephant camp in Mudumalai Tiger Reserve in The Nilgiris district and looks after the needs of jumbos.
The Elephant Whisperers, directed by Kartiki Gonsalves, in its 39-minute runtime, depicts an unbreakable bond between two abandoned elephant calves Raghu and Amu and their caretakers, Bomman and Belli.
Meanwhile, the Nilgiris Adivasi Welfare Association Secretary Alwas termed the award as a recognition of the traditional profession of the tribals.
(With PTI inputs)
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