The Elephant Whisperers’ Bomman and Belli meet PM Modi for first time since Oscar win, pose for pics. See here

Couple Bomman and Belli, who were seen as elephant caretakers in the documentary The Elephant Whisperers, met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday. This is the first time that the couple met PM Modi. The PM visited the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve in Tamil Nadu and also spent time with Bommi and Raghu at the Theppakadu elephant camp. (Also Read | PM Modi meets Guneet Monga, Kartiki Gonasalves, lauds their Oscar win for The Elephant Whisperers)

In a video shared by news agency ANI, PM Modi was seen feeding sugarcane to an elephant and also petting them. In the clip, Bomman and Belli stood next to the PM and watched him. The PM also interacted with field directors of tiger reserves that have scored highest in the recently concluded 5th cycle of the Management Effectiveness Evaluation exercise.

In several pictures, Bomman and Belli greeted PM Modi with folded hands. The PM was seen smiling as an elephant kept his trunk on his chest as Bomman and Belli looked on. The couple also posed for pictures with PM Modi.

Last month, The Elephant Whisperers director Kartiki Gonsalves and producer Guneet Monga met PM Modi. He congratulated the team on their success and added that they made India proud with their win. The Elephant Whisperers won the Oscar for Best Documentary Short at the 95th Academy Awards.

After the meeting, PM Modi had tweeted, “The cinematic brilliance and success of The Elephant Whisperers has drawn global attention as well as acclaim. Today, I had the opportunity to meet the brilliant team associated with it. They have made India very proud. @guneetm @EarthSpectrum.”

President Droupadi Murmu had also met the duo and praised them for showcasing India’s tradition of conservation and living in harmony with nature. “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,” the Rashtrapati Bhavan tweeted along with pictures of the meeting.

The Elephant Whisperers is a 41-minute short documentary that explores the 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 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.