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[birds chirping]
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[man] I am Kattunayakan.
Kattunayakan means "Kings of the forest."
This is my home, where I belong…
where the wild animals roam free.
This is also the land where my ancestors lived for generations.
[prayer bell ringing]
[man] Oh, my dear.
Did you sleep, my child?
How are you?
Come. Come, come.
Come here. Come closer.
Come, come.
-[elephant grunting] -Come.
Come here.
Come here, my dear.
Come, come. Come here, come here, come here, come here.
Oh, my dear.
Oh, my dear, Raghu, my baby.
Come. Come. Hey, come.
How are you? Very good, very good. Come.
Come.
Come, come. Come.
Come.
Lie down.
Get up. Get up.
Come. Come. Come. Come.
Let's go home.
[woman] Bomman.
Bomman.
I'm trying to light the fire.
I'm not going to marry someone who's covered with ash.
[Bomman] When I arrived, the baby elephant was in a lot of pain.
His tail had been bitten off by stray dogs,
and his open wounds were infested with maggots.
Raghu's mother got electrocuted and died instantly.
Due to a prolonged drought,
his herd had wandered into a village in search of food and water.
They tried to reunite Raghu with his herd,
but they failed.
[woman] I wasn't officially an elephant caretaker.
When I first met the baby,
he was tugging at my clothes like a child,
and I felt his love.
I decided to give all my love to this baby.
[Bomman] I am very happy that the forest department
assigned Bellie to work with me to care for Raghu.
She is the only woman currently assigned to care for baby elephants in Tamil Nadu.
[Bellie] Look over there beneath the tree.
There it is. There is one more walking down there.
When Raghu arrived here, he was in bad shape.
Everyone thought he wouldn't survive,
but I had full faith that he will, and cherish a very good life.
[Bomman] No one knew if Raghu would even survive.
He was in such a bad state.
It was a long and difficult process to cure Raghu.
But now it feels great to see him healthy.
I am really happy.
[Bellie] For almost three years, we have been taking care of Raghu.
[Bomman] This place is an elephant rehabilitation camp.
Orphaned, abandoned, and displaced wild elephants
are brought here, and we take care of them.
My grandfather and my father looked after elephants,
and I became an elephant caregiver the day my father died.
[exclaims]
Raghu, I have been looking for your bell! How did you lose it?
You dropped it in the water?
Luckily, I found it in the river. Don't lose it again.
They wear a bell so we can hear them if they get lost in the forest
because we would lose them,
and they will not be able to fend for themselves.
Raghu has a friend called Krishna.
[Bellie] Raghu is learning to pluck grass.
Raghu got a thorn stuck on his tongue,
and Krishna removed it.
Watching Raghu with Krishna brings us happiness.
There is only so much we can teach them.
And there are things they can only learn from one of their own kind.
A reason for leaving them in the jungle
is to make them independent and live a good life.
Are you eating soap? Haven't you tasted soap before?
You are putting water on me. Don't splash like that.
[Bomman] Oh, my dear.
-[Raghu bellowing] -Who is it?
Who do you want?
Oh, my dear child.
Who is this? Who is the best elephant?
Is it you? Is it you?
Who is the best elephant?
Whose darling is this? Who is this? Come, Raghu.
[Bellie] We have become a family around Raghu,
and that is the reason he survived.
Bringing up Raghu helps us forget about our worries.
I have had many losses in my life.
A tiger killed my ex-husband.
Since then, I was scared of forest.
I get petrified when I see a tiger.
I am a tribal woman,
and our people come from the heart of the forest.
For us, the well-being of the forest is all that matters.
We walk barefoot within it.
This is our way of showing respect to it.
We live off the forest, but we also protect it.
We don't take anything more than necessary.
Our people do not fear elephants.
That's why we have been working with them for generations.
[Bomman] I have learned over the many years of working with elephants
that they are very intelligent and emotional beings.
But working with elephants is dangerous in so many ways.
I got stabbed by my big tusker a while ago.
I cannot work with large elephants anymore.
-[Bomman] Come here. -[bell rings]
Here it is.
That is why I feel getting Raghu was a gift from God.
I want to do my best for him. I consider him a godsend.
And I want to do my best in caring for him.
-[Bomman] Go there! -[bell ringing]
[Bellie] I feel like I'm his mother.
Drink from here.
Everything about him is like a human, except that he cannot talk.
Recently my daughter died.
Losing a child is devastating.
When I cried, Raghu wiped my tears with his trunk…
and the small gesture comforted me.
I feel he really understands everything.
I remember what my daughter was like at Raghu's age.
Taking care of Raghu reminds me of my daughter.
[all laughing]
[indistinct chatter]
-[Bellie] Look how naughty you are today. -[Bomman] You are very naughty.
[Bellie] Bring all the sugarcane here.
[Bomman] I don't think he wants the millet ball today.
[Bellie] But we first have to give him the millet.
[Bomman] If you give it to him like that, he will eat it.
[Bellie] He wants dried coconut and jaggery.
I don't like this habit of yours.
He just wants coconut.
This is how he was when he was young.
We take turns to feed him.
Come here and feed him! Come!
[Bomman] Why aren't you eating, naughty boy?
Why didn't you eat when she was feeding you?
The rains have come.
This will make the grass grow for you.
Raghu will get so much grass to eat.
Come, Raghu.
Come here, under the umbrella.
Come. Come.
The rain has stopped. Let us have something to eat.
[Bellie] I bought some snacks.
-[Bomman] You feed me and I'll feed you. -[both laughing]
You will bite my fingers.
[Bomman] Don't talk like that.
[Bomman chuckling]
Raghu, my child, wait!
I will give you some, I'm coming.
-I'm so full. -Boil the water.
He's sleepy.
Go and light the fire.
[Raghu grunting]
Wait, it is almost ready.
[grunts]
Don't try to pull the tube.
It will break.
Are you sleepy?
[men chattering indistinctly in the distance]
Stand still. Don't eat it. Stop.
Are you trying to eat the garland?
You are really very naughty.
[Bomman] On a special ceremony day,
elephant calves are taken to seek their blessings from Lord Ganesha.
I am proud of being both a priest and a mahout.
[prayer bell ringing]
Both bring me immense happiness.
[trumpeting]
We pray to Lord Ganesha.
Seeing an elephant, to us,
is equivalent to seeing God.
God and elephants are one for me.
The way I serve God is the same way I serve the elephants.
We take care of Raghu every single day,
which in turn, puts food on my table every day.
This is God's presence in my life. Without him, we'd have nothing.
[trumpeting in the distance]
[Bellie] At 5:00 a.m., Bomman got a call.
The Forest Department asked us to come to the camp immediately.
[whimsical music playing]
There, I saw a tiny thing with a snotty trunk.
The camp manager wanted us to take charge of baby Ammu.
They said despite everyone else's efforts, all the other elephant babies died.
We both have successfully managed to raise Raghu.
[gentle rumbling]
For a whole week, Raghu was very upset.
If Ammu was standing close to us, he would come and push her away.
Slowly, he got used to Ammu's presence.
[Bomman] Wait.
[Bomman] Now we are all a family.
[Bellie] By working together with Bomman…
the bond between us has grown so much.
Now he will throw tantrums.
[Bomman] Come, let us go and talk.
Look, he has started throwing tantrums.
[singing Ancient Kattunayakan Tribal Song]
[Bellie] Wait, even I want to dance with all of you.
[singing continues]
[Bomman] Come, my dear ones. Come.
Run and come.
Run a little faster.
Faster, faster, faster.
Come.
[bell rings]
[applause]
[indistinct chatter]
[cheering]
[laughter]
[Bomman] Look. Look what he is doing.
No, don't eat it.
[Bellie] Sanjana is my granddaughter.
[Bellie] What are you doing there? Come here.
Amma, I'll wear that dress.
[Bellie] She loves me so much and helps me in everything.
Sanjana has always loved elephants.
Even now, as she's growing up, she loves them.
I take Sanjana along with me to help take care of the elephants.
I want her to learn from me.
[Bomman] We are their parents.
We do whatever it takes to provide for all their needs.
Looking after two elephants means giving them milk,
cleaning out their rooms, bathing them…
Alongside all the hard work and care,
elephants also require a lot of love and affection.
It's just like raising human babies.
-[trumpets] -[laughing]
[squeaks]
Feed this.
The cup is empty now.
It is totally empty.
[Bellie] Get water.
-[Ammu grunting] -Whoa.
[Bellie] Sanjana.
Today I will tell you a story of three blind men.
[Ammu grunts softly]
[Bellie] They came across an elephant in a jungle.
One of them touched the trunk and said it felt like a serpent.
Another touched the ear and said, "It's a sieve."
The third touched the tail and said,
"It's a broom."
In the same way…
many people believe that elephants are dangerous
and they raid crops.
But only people who live close to elephants will know how they are.
When you give them love, they give back to you in the same way.
Just like Ammu and Raghu.
[Bellie] Shortly after our wedding, we got a call from the Forest Department.
They told us Raghu would be assigned to another caregiver.
[somber music playing]
[imperceptible]
[Bomman] We begged the forest officers not to take Raghu away from us.
-[chains rattling] -[Bomman calls]
[Bomman] Raghu hesitated a lot while being taken away.
He kept turning around,
looking back at us and Ammu and walked very slowly.
[bellows]
[Bomman] Then Ammu cried out to him
and he came running back to touch her
and they came back to take him away again.
[bellowing]
My wife and I couldn't even eat properly for a few days.
We had put in everything into raising Raghu.
We've been through so much.
There wasn't a single God left who we didn't pray to.
After all the difficulties we faced in raising Raghu,
it brings tears to my eyes.
No.
[sniffles]
[Bellie] I feel the same intense pain I felt when my daughter died.
I took as much care of him as if he had been my own child,
because I had to ensure his survival.
[Bomman] We love them so much.
We have brought them up as our own children.
It was so painful for us and also Ammu.
[bellowing]
[Bomman] Ammu was very upset
and didn't even drink her milk for a few days
because she was separated from Raghu.
What are you searching for?
I don't have anything.
Lie down here.
I will spank you if you lie on me.
Lie down here.
Mm-hmm.
[bellows]
Ammu, do you want your milk?
What do you want?
Do you want milk?
Leave me. Let me go and prepare milk.
[Bellie] I'm not scared of forest anymore.
I had so much of loss and sadness in my life.
But now I have found my way through it.
I have found my voice.
I have raised two baby elephants.
Now everyone knows me as the mother of elephants,
and that makes me proud.
[Bomman] It is the actions of us humans
that is causing elephants to enter villages these days.
Our mistakes are very harmful both for us and for elephants.
We were able to save Raghu and Ammu because they were brought to us.
[Bomman] Baby Ammu. Baby.
Baby Ammu.
[Bomman] But we are not able to save all of them.
[bellows]
Every time I see Raghu, I feel great joy.
Even today, he still comes running to me when I call.
Raghu. Come to me. Come. Come.
[Raghu grunting excitedly]
[Bomman] I see the love he has for me, and I feel love for him too.
[children laughing]
[indistinct conversation]
[Bomman] This is me when I was a young boy.
[Bellie] These children are our future.
We want that the younger generation should learn from us.
[Bomman] After me, this generation will carry on the tradition
of working with elephants and they will do it well.
I cannot imagine a life without elephants.