Garima Pura, who is only 27 years old, has won an Oscar. The Elephant Whisperers’ scriptwriter, Garima, calls the award “surreal” and notes that she is from Chandigarh, a previously unremarkable film production place. The Elephant Whisperers received the Oscar Award for Best Documentary Short.
“I’ll need six months to comprehend this victory… Speaking to media from the team’s Oscar celebration in the US, she explains that there isn’t much of a model for this accomplishment. Before winning the Oscar, Garima already had a stellar resume that included creating the script for two seasons of the OTT series The Little Things. She left her position in the media industry after only eight months to pursue a career in filmmaking and scriptwriting.
On her relationship with The Elephant Whisperers director Kartiki Gonsalves, she adds, “In 2019, wildlife filmmaker Gunjan Menon introduced me to Kartiki, who had a story and was looking for a writer. Kartiki came back to me in February 2020, just before the lockdown, to tell me about Ammu so I could include that in the script. I went to Bomman and Bellie for the first time since, up until then, I had only worked with the scientist Sreedhar’s study.
It was a privilege to share their tale. It was humbling to hear about elephants and their superior cognition and emotions because humans believe they are at the top of the hierarchy. The kind of environment Bomman and Bellie have created with Raghu and Ammu and is thriving at that, she continues. We used this relationship in the movie’s story to show zoo-goers from the cities that humans and elephants have a genetic affinity. Garima had the classic struggle even if she had early success. Due to streaming sites, times are changing, and more young people are working in the film industry.
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