The Indian Panorama

Tag: The Elephant Whisperers

  • INDIA WINS TWICE ON OSCARS NIGHT

    Keeravaani and Chandrabose with Oscar. (Credit : AMPAS.)

    By Mabel Pais

    While audiences around the world watched the 95th Oscars on Sunday, March 12, 2023, India made history at the event by winning in the MUSIC category for ‘NAATU NAATU’ from the film ‘RRR’ (short for ‘Rise, Roar, Revolt’) and the BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT, ‘THE ELEPHANT WHISPERERS.’

    MUSIC (ORIGINAL SONG)
    WINNER
    NAATU NAATU
    from RRR; Music by M.M. Keeravaani; Lyric by Chandrabose

    Oscar-winning Best Original Song from ‘RRR,’ ‘Naatu Naatu’ — made this year’s ceremony and much more special was the infectious song-and-dance number from RRR was recreated onstage during Hollywood’s biggest night.

    Deepika Pudukone, the Mumbai Film Industry’s (also called “Bollywood”) own, introduced the performance, highlighting the historic nature of “Naatu Naatu” being “the first song ever from an Indian production to be nominated for an Oscar,” and also “a total banger.” Singers Rahul Sipligunj and Kaala Bhairava performed the song — which you can watch below — and in doing so, brought the Telugu Film Industry (also called “Tollywood”) to Hollywood for the night.

    “Naatu Naatu” made history again when the Telugu-language track won BEST ORIGINAL SONG, becoming the first song from an Indian film to win in the category. (Indian composer A.R. Rahman previously won in 2009 for “Jai Ho,” though Slumdog Millionaire was a U.K. production.)

    “I grew up listening to the Carpenters, and now here I am with the Oscars,” composer M.M. Keeravaani said onstage, before breaking into his own rendition of the band’s song, “Top of the World”: “There was only one wish on my mind, so was Rajamouli’s and my family’s. ‘RRR’ has to win, pride of every Indian, and must put me on the top of the world.”

    ‘RRR’ has also received an ‘Naatu Naatu,’ two Golden Globe nominations and one win (nominated for Best Non-English Language Film and winning Best Original Song for “Naatu Naatu”), five Critics Choice Awards nominations and two wins (nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Visual Effects, and winning Best Original Song and Best Foreign Language Film), been named Best Music/Score and runner-up for Best Director by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, been named a top 10 film by the National Board of Review, and won over 23 regional/online critics association awards out of dozens of nominations.

    Watch the ‘Naatu Naatu’ performance on Oscar Night.

    Video 1
    youtu.be/dx9_85YED6k

    DOCUMENTARY SHORT FILM
    WINNER
    THE ELEPHANT WHISPERERS
    Kartiki Gonsalves and Guneet Monga

    The Elephant Whisperers. (Credit : sikhyaentertainment.com)

    An indigenous couple in South India, Bomman and Bellie, fall in love with Raghu, an orphaned elephant given into their care, and tirelessly work to ensure his recovery and survival. ‘The Elephant Whisperers’ portrays the dignity of both the magnificent elephants and the indigenous people who have lived with them and cared for them for centuries. Filmmaker Kartiki Gonsalves points out that she wanted to get the audience to stop seeing animals as “the other” and start to see them as one of us. “In this time, there are so many stories of animals being killed and species dying out — and this is a positive story that highlights the beauty of man and animal working together. I believe coexistence is the way we need to move forward into the future, only with mutual respect and cooperation can we save the planet,” in an interview with the AMPAS publication.

    “In my eyes, I feel that human empathy transcends diversity and connects us all in our environmental cause. I also seek to give a platform to women and indigenous tribes, especially those working to conserve the planet and bringing new perspectives and a deeper public understanding to the environmental and humanitarian issues. I believe that strong imagery has the unique power of changing minds. Storytelling is bringing stories that inspire, raise awareness and ultimately effect change,” she continued.

    Producer Monga adds that the film introduced her to an indigenous community that is fiercely protective of their work and derives great purpose, dignity, and community from what they do. They have made her reflect on one of the deep questions the film asks which is, “How much is enough?” There’s a beautiful line in the film where they say, “We take only what we need from the jungle and it is enough for all of us.” That really resonated with her.

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    INDIA’S ONLY ALL-FEMALE NEWS NETWORK ENCOURAGES CHANGE

    ‘Writing with Fire,’ poster (Credit : pbs.org.)

    By Mabel Pais

    In a male-dominated media landscape, the women journalists of India’s all-women-run Khabar Lahariya (“News Wave”) newspaper risk it all, including their own safety, to cover the country’s political, social, and local news from a women-powered perspective. Founded in 2002, Khabar Lahariya is an entirely digital organization doing on-the-ground reporting in India’s small towns and villages. They believe in the power of technology to tell stories that matter. From underground network to independent media empire — now with 10 million views on their YouTube site—they defy the odds to redefine power. Watch the video – youtu.be/1iSz_rXJcoU
    (VIDEO 2 here)
    In celebration of Women’s History Month, Women@NJPAC focuses on India’s only all-female news network. The documentary film, ‘Writing With Fire,’ captures the bravery, tenacity and charm of a small group of rural Dalit women, considered members of a low caste, maybe outcaste. In spite of their social status and limited means, they fearlessly uncover their country’s inequities and wrongdoings.

    While in the United States, a changing media landscape has shuttered many print newspapers and reduced the budgets for local reporting. While local journalists strive to keep their communities informed, they must also contend with the challenges of monetizing an online media presence.

    Women@NJPAC is curating the virtual panel conversation on the importance of a free press and the power of journalists to transform their communities. The panelists will also share ideas on how to effect change and chip away at systems of oppression that have shaped lives for millennia.

    How to participate:

    Register at njpac.tfaforms.net/145?id=a2F8X0000085Kc1UAE

    You’ll receive a link to watch ‘Writing With Fire’ at home.

    Join NJPAC for a virtual panel discussion at 7PM on March 20.

    PROGRAM

    Panelists

    Anurima Bhargava
    executive producer, writing with fire; founder/president, anthem of us

    Stefanie Murray
    director, center for cooperative media, montclair state university

    Alejandra Sorto
    campaign strategist, american civil liberties union of new jersey

    Moderator

    Shumita Basu
    broadcast journalist; host, apple news today and in conversation

    (Mabel Pais writes on Social Issues, The Arts and Entertainment, Health & Wellness, Cuisine and Spirituality)

  • INDIA GETS THREE NOMS FOR 95TH OSCARS®

    By Mabel Pais

    The 95th Oscars® nominations were announced on Tuesday, January 24 by Oscar®-winning actor-producer Riz Ahmed and actor Allison Williams live from the Academy’s (The Academy of Motion Picture Arts  and Sciences) Samuel Goldwyn Theater via a global live stream on Oscar.com, Oscars.org and the Academy’s digital platforms, an international satellite feed and broadcast media.

    For a complete list of nominees in all 23 categories, visit oscar.com.

    This year, the Academy saw its highest ever voter participation in the organization’s history, with members submitting ballots from 80 countries.

    Active members of the Academy are eligible to vote for the winners in all 23 categories beginning Thursday, March 2, through Tuesday, March 7. The 95th Oscars will be held on Sunday, March 12, 2023, at the Dolby® Theatre at Ovation Hollywood and will be televised live on ABC television and in more than 200 territories worldwide.

    India was honored with nominations in three categories: Documentary Feature Film, Documentary Short Film, and Music (for Original Song).

    Documentary Feature Film

    ALL THAT BREATHES

    Director: Shaunak Sen l Producers: Shaunak Sen, Aman Mann & Teddy Leifer l

    All That Breathes. (Photo Credit : allthatbreathes.com)

    In Shaunak Sen’s ‘All That Breathes’ the film-viewer gets an insight to one of the world’s most populated Indian cities where cows, rats, monkeys, frogs, and hogs jostle cheek-by-jowl with people. Here, two brothers fall in love with a bird – the black kite.

    From their makeshift bird hospital in their tiny basement, the ”kite brothers” care for thousands of these mesmeric creatures that drop daily from New Delhi’s smog-choked skies. As environmental toxicity and civil unrest escalate, the relationship between this Muslim family and the neglected kite forms a poetic chronicle of the city’s collapsing ecology and rising social tensions.

    “The city itself – replete with the many human-animal ensembles in it – features in the film as a character,” says Shaunak Sen. “As a method, I am deeply interested in looking at everyday banal phenomena that usually occupy the fringes of our vision, as objects of rigorous study. Through this film, I want to harness the enchantment of the sky. I want audiences to leave theatres and instinctively look up – to think of the sky and the birds in it as novel, wonderfully alien things.”

    Nadeem Shehzad and his younger brother Mohammad Saud featured in the film are former bodybuilders from the Chawri Bazar area of New Delhi. They started treating black kites in 2003. Since then, they have together treated more than 20,000 injured birds. Nadeem was recently appointed as an Honorary Wildlife Warden of Delhi, and in 2021 spent three months in the U.S. for training with bird rescue organizations. Today, Nadeem and Saud continue to work tirelessly to treat black kites and other birds of prey through the organization they set up in 2010: ‘Wildlife Rescue.’

    All That Breathes. (Photo Credit : allthatbreathes.com)

    ‘All That Breathes’ has received the following awards

    ** 2022 Sundance Film Festival World Cinema Grand Jury Prize for Documentary **

    ** 2022 Cannes Film Festival Prize for Best Documentary (L’Œil d’Or) **

    ** 2022 BFI London Film Festival Grierson Award for Best Documentary **

    ** 2022 Hong Kong International Film Festival Golden Firebird Award in Documentary Competition **

    ** 2022 IDA Documentary Awards for Best Feature Documentary, Best Director, Best Editing, and Pare Lorentz Award**

    ** 2022 Cinema Eye Honors Awards for Outstanding Nonfiction Feature, and Outstanding Cinematography **

    ** 2022 Gotham Award for Best Documentary Feature **

    ** 2022 Asia Pacific Screen Award for Best Documentary Film **

    ‘All That Breathes’ was nominated against

    ‘All the Beauty and the Bloodshed’ – Producers: Laura Poitras, Howard Gertler, John Lyons, Nan Goldin and Yoni Golijov

    ‘Fire of Love’ – Producers: Sara Dosa, Shane Boris and Ina Fichman

    ‘A House Made of Splinters’ – Producers: Simon Lereng Wilmont and Monica Hellström, and

    ‘Navalny’ – Producers: Daniel Roher, Odessa Rae, Diane Becker, Melanie Miller and Shane Boris

    Documentary Short Film

    THE ELEPHANT WHISPERERS

    Director: Kartiki Gonsalves l Producers: Kartiki Gonsalves & Guneet Monga l India l 2022 l Color l PG l 41m

    The Elephant Whisperers. (Photo Credit : sikhyaentertainment.com)

    Bomman and Bellie, a couple in Tamil Nadu’s Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (South India), devote their lives to caring for an orphaned baby elephant named Raghu, forging a family like no other that tests the barrier between the human and the animal world.

    ‘Elephant Whisperers’ was in competition with

    ‘Haulout’ – Producers: Evgenia Arbugaeva and Maxim Arbugaev

    ‘How Do You Measure a Year?’ – Producer: Jay Rosenblatt

    ‘The Martha Mitchell Effect’ – Producers: Anne Alvergue and Beth Levison

    ‘Stranger at the Gate’ – Producers: Joshua Seftel and Conall Jones

    Music (Original Song)

    India has made history with ‘Naatu Naatu’ (film, ‘RRR’) as the first Asian song in 2022 to win a Golden Globe Award in the category!

    NAATU NAATU (from film ‘RRR’)

    Director: S.S. Rajamouli l 2022 l India l Telugu w/Eng subs l 3h 2m

    Music: M.M. Keeravaani l Lyric: Chandrabose

    RRR: ‘Naatu Naatu’ dance. (Photo Credit : DVV Entertainments.)

    From writer-director S. S. Rajamouli (Baahubali) comes the international blockbuster that has enchanted movie audiences of all ages with its jaw-dropping action sequences, swooning romantic intrigue, infectious musical numbers— particularly, the sensation ‘Naatu Naatu’—and rousing central friendship between two pre-Independence revolutionaries, played by Telugu-language megastars Ram Charan and N.T. Rama Rao, Jr. (better known as Jr. NTR).

    “The emotions have to be grounded and real, they can’t be over the top. If you can capture your audience with emotion, you can fictionalize any part of history, anyone or anything,” says S.S. Rajamouli.

    From an original story by V. Vijayendra Prasad, the historical action epic RRR (short for Rise, Roar, Revolt) follows the fictionalized paths of real-life freedom fighters Alluri Sitarama Raju (Ram Charan) and Komaram Bheem (Rama Rao) as they come together in 1920s Delhi to battle the nefarious British Raj for the rescue of a kidnapped girl from Bheem’s tribe.

    In the movie, Raju comes to represent fire, while Bheem symbolizes water; their coming together as friends makes them an indomitable force. The plot explores the undocumented period in the lives of two very different freedom fighters during the height of the Raj—but R.R.R. is at its heart a story about India coming into its own.

    ‘Naatu Naatu’ won the nomination in competition with

    ‘Applause’ from ‘Tell It like a Woman’ – Music and Lyric by Diane Warren

    ‘Hold My Hand’ from ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ – Music and Lyric by Lady Gaga &  BloodPop

    ‘Lift Me Up’ from ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ – Music by Tems, Rihanna, Ryan Coogler and Ludwig Goransson; Lyric by Tems and Ryan Coogler

    ‘This Is A Life’ from ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’ – Music by Ryan Lott, David Byrne and Mitski; Lyric by Ryan Lott and David Byrne.

    (Mabel Pais writes on The Arts and Entertainment, Social Issues, Health & Wellness, Cuisine and Spirituality)