MUMBAI: Bollywood stars are campaigning to end the use of elephants in Indian films, arguing that life-size robot replicas and AI-generated images can achieve the same effect without cruelty. Top directors, producers, and actors have supported the campaign by animal rights group PETA India, which this month highlighted how the rise of sophisticated AI images provides even less reason to use real animals.
Celebrity Support
A-list actor and producer John Abraham said, "Elephants shouldn't suffer for our entertainment," explaining why he and more than two dozen stars are backing the campaign. "With today's technology, we can bring elephants to life beautifully through CGI (computer-generated imagery) and mechanical artistry, without confinement or cruelty."
Elephant Population and Captivity
According to the World Wildlife Fund, there are fewer than 50,000 Asian elephants in the wild, with the majority in India, and others in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia. India's environment ministry estimates there are more than 2,600 captive elephants in the country, used for tourism, entertainment, and in temples. PETA told AFP that captive elephants are "separated from their families, kept near-constantly chained and are controlled with weapons."
Regulatory Measures
India's Animal Welfare Board must grant permission for elephants to be used in films. The number of real elephants used has dropped dramatically since its 2021 order that it was "advisable" to prioritize special effects or animatronics "to prevent unnecessary pain and suffering to animals." Now, PETA campaigners are highlighting how AI-generated images, showcased in a social media campaign this month, provide increasingly lifelike alternatives.
Technological Alternatives
Campaigners point to the use of CGI imagery by Richie Mehta in the 2024 series 'Poacher', a Malayalam-language crime drama about ivory smuggling, and to a robotic elephant with flapping ears used in a dance routine for an advertisement by clothing company Ramraj Cotton. Other high-profile hits that used CGI for elephants include the 2020 historical action movie 'Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior' and the 2006 superhero film 'Krrish'. This contrasts with the past, when movies such as the 1971 hit 'Haathi Mere Saathi' used multiple real elephants, alongside tigers and lions, in dance scenes.
Recent Use of Real Elephants
Last month, the Malayalam-language film 'Kattalan'—about ivory-smuggling gangsters—featured real elephants, producers told Indian media. PETA has long campaigned for the end of elephants in Hindu temple ceremonies, where the animals are paraded through packed crowds with flashing lights, thumping drums, and ear-splitting music. It has donated more than 25 life-size robot elephants, made of fiberglass and rubber, to temples across India. The models are motorized so that they flap their ears, move tails, and even spray water from rubber trunks.
Notable Donations
In May, PETA and Shriya Saran—one of the stars of the 2022 hit 'RRR', which won the Oscar for best original song—gifted a robotic elephant to a Hindu temple in Kanpur, in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. Other Bollywood names on a list of more than two dozen stars include Richa Chadha, Farah Khan, and Dia Mirza.
Empathy in Cinema
"Good cinema requires empathy," said actor Pooja Bhatt. "We can tell wonderful stories on screen without exploiting animals."
