Bomman has been receiving calls all day on Monday, March 13, congratulating him after a documentary featuring him and his wife Bellie Amma won the Oscar for the Best Documentary Short. Currently deployed in Tamil Nadu's Dharmapuri to rescue two elephant calves who have been orphaned after their mothers were electrocuted.
Bomman is from the Kattunayakan tribe, and is a resident of Theppakadu in Mudumalai Tiger Reserve. He's the star of The Elephant Whisperers, along with his wife Bellie Amma, and the documentary tells the story of how they take care of an orphaned elephant calf called Raghu. The documentary focuses on the relationship between Bomman the Mahout, Bellie the caregiver, and Raghu, the baby elephant who is badly injured and needs to be brought back to health. Director Kartiki Gonsalves in her Oscar speech said, "I stand here today to speak for the sacred bond between us and our natural world. For the respect of indigenous communities, and empathy towards other living beings we share our space with. And finally for coexistence.”
But while the documentary is winning hearts, Bomman says Raghu and Ammu are no longer under his care. "After the movie shoot, there were some issues," Bomman says, as he briefly mentions some altercations in the community that takes care of orphaned elephants at the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve. "We had to give up the two elephant calves we were taking care of, and now some other Mahouts are taking care of them," he says.
Bellie Amma, meanwhile, is under-employed as the caregiving job was temporary. "She has been at home most of the time for the last year," Bomman tells TNM, "Recently, she was given a temporary job as a domestic worker at a forest official's home."
Asked about the discourse about whether his family received any monetary proceedings from the success of the film, Bomman says, "I’m a permanent employee of the Tamil Nadu Forest Department and I cannot take such assistance from anyone."
Earlier in the day, Bellie Amma spoke to reporters and recalled how Raghu, the baby elephant in the documentary, first came into her family’s care. “When I saw his condition and his cut off tail, I initially thought it wouldn’t be possible to raise him. But my family said, let’s try as much as we can to heal him. We managed to do so, and by the time he grew up, Bommi came along to us.” Remembering how she and her family were approached for the film, Bellie added, “Now the film has gone all the way to the Oscars, all of us at Mudumalai are really happy.”
The Elephant Whisperers was a directorial debut for Kartiki, who has previously worked as a natural historian, social documentary filmmaker, and photojournalist.
Editor's Note: This story has been edited. Bomman initially said that he has not watched the documentary yet, later he retracted the quote.