Chennai, Mar 22 (UNI) Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin presented
a cheque for Rs one crore to Ms Kartiki Gonsalves, Director of the Oscar
­winning documentary "The Elephant Whisperers."
Mr Stalin presented the cheque to her at the State Secretariat during
which she showed the Oscar awad to the Chief Minister, an official
release said.
Ms.Gonsalves, who shot the documentary over five years, said it was
an honour to win the Oscars.
“It’s for women, for conservation, and for the protection of wild species,”
she said.
The film revolves around the lives of caretakers Bomman and Bellie at
the Theppakadu Elephant camp in the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR)
and Ragu, the calf they raise.
Ragu was brought to the camp as a six-­month­-old orphan. The story is
also about the duo caring for another abandoned calf Ammu.
Mr. Stalin had felicitated the caretakers of Ragu by presenting them a
shield and a cheque for Rs one lakh each on March 15.
The Chief Minister also announced a grant of Rs one lakh each from the
Chief Minister’s Public Relief Fund to all 91 mahouts and cavadis working
in the Thepakkadu elephant camp of MTR and Kozhikammuthi elephant
camp of Anamalai Tiger Reserve.
UNI GV 1525