AND THE OSCAR GOES TO -KARTIKI GONSALVES AND GUNEET MONGA

THE TALENTED DUO BEHIND THE FIRST EVER INDIAN-PRODUCED FILM, "THE ELEPHANT WHISPERERS", WON AN ACADEMY AWARD THROW LIGHT ON THEIR JOURNEY OF PASSION AND DETERMINATION AND WHAT IT TAKES TO WIN THE COVETED OSCAR IN AN EXCLUSIVE TÊTE-À-TÊTE

- NAMITA GUPTA

They're on sky high. Kartiki Gonsalves and Guneet Monga couldn't have asked for a better moment than this as they walked the red carpet at the 95th Academy Awards and swept the Oscars away. They are elated beyond words and their smiles say it all. The Netflix film, The Elephant Whisperers directed by Kartiki Gonsalves, won an Oscar this year in the Best Documentary Short category. Producer of The Elephant Whisperers, Guneet Monga is a firm believer in the power of women and has been on a roll ever since they took home the biggest honour in the world of cinema.

The heartfelt, intense and emotional bond that Bomman and Bellie, a tribal couple from Tamil Nadu's Mudumalai Forest share with the two young elephants is special and evident in the 40-minute documentary - The Elephant Whisperers. Ootacamund-based Kartiki Gonsalves has been an ace documentary filmmaker and photographer, specialising in nature and wildlife photography for many years. Younger -daughter of Priscilla Tapley Gonsalves and Timothy a Gonsalves from New York, she grew up in Ooty. She received her formal education in photography from the Light & Life Academy in Ooty, but was born with an innate talent that landed her the most coveted award in the film industry. After a chance meeting with Bomman Kattunayakan, a caregiver at the elephant camp, on one of her drives back home, Kartiki spent 18 months with the tribal couple, Bomman and Bellie, who adopted two orphaned elephants Raghu and Ammu. The result is there for the world to witness - the heart-warming documentary shot at the century-old Theppakadu Elephant Camp inside the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve in Tamil Nadu, at close distance to where she was born and raised.

Here are excerpts from an exclusive interview with Kartiki Gonsalves.