Indian film stars back drive to stop using real elephants on screen

MUMBAI: Prominent Bollywood actors, directors and producers are supporting a campaign to end the use of real elephants in Indian films, arguing that computer-generated imagery, animatronics and AI-generated visuals now offer alternatives that do not involve animal cruelty.

The campaign has been led by PETA India, which this month pointed to advances in AI imagery as further reducing any justification for using live elephants in film productions. Actor and producer John Abraham, who is among more than two dozen stars backing the effort, said elephants should not be made to suffer for entertainment.

He said modern visual tools can create convincing screen portrayals without keeping animals in confinement. In a separate endorsement of the campaign, actor Pooja Bhatt said filmmakers can tell compelling stories without exploiting animals.

"Elephants shouldn't suffer for our entertainment," John Abraham said while explaining his support for 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."

Bhatt also endorsed the shift away from live animals in productions. "Good cinema requires empathy," she said. "We can tell wonderful stories on screen without exploiting animals."

Captive elephants and film rules

According to the World Wildlife Fund, fewer than 50,000 Asian elephants remain in the wild, most of them in India, while others are found in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia. India also has more than 2,600 captive elephants, according to estimates from the environment ministry. These animals are used in tourism, entertainment and temples.

PETA told AFP that captive elephants are removed from their family groups, kept chained for much of the time and controlled with weapons. The group said elephants are highly intelligent and emotional animals that need to live freely in forest habitats for their physical and mental wellbeing.

In India, permission from the Animal Welfare Board is required before elephants can be used in films. The use of real elephants has fallen sharply since the board issued an order in 2021 saying it was advisable to prioritise special effects or animatronics in order to prevent unnecessary pain and suffering to animals.

Industry examples and temple campaign

Campaigners have highlighted several productions and commercial projects that used alternatives to live elephants. These include Richie Mehta's 2024 Malayalam-language crime drama Poacher, which used CGI imagery, and a Ramraj Cotton advertisement featuring a robotic elephant with moving ears in a dance sequence. Other films cited for using CGI elephants include the 2020 historical action film Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior and the 2006 superhero movie Krrish.

The contrast, campaigners say, is with older productions such as the 1971 hit Haathi Mere Saathi, which used several real elephants along with tigers and lions in dance scenes. More recently, producers of the Malayalam-language film Kattalan, centred on ivory-smuggling gangsters, told Indian media last month that the film featured real elephants.

PETA has also been campaigning against the use of elephants in Hindu temple ceremonies, where the animals are taken through dense crowds amid flashing lights, loud drums and high-volume music. The group has donated more than 25 life-size robotic elephants made from fibreglass and rubber to temples across India. These motorised models can flap their ears, move their tails and spray water through rubber trunks.

In May, PETA and actor Shriya Saran, one of the stars of the 2022 film RRR, presented one such robotic elephant to a Hindu temple in Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh. Other Bollywood figures listed by PETA as supporting the current campaign include Richa Chadha, Farah Khan and Dia Mirza.