Vidyut Jammwal’s special friend - a baby elephant, Moonbeam

Baby elephants are always tucked with their mother. However, Moonbeam, the beloved 3-month-old baby elephant of the sanctuary, came out of his mother’s shadows during the shoot of the actor’s family adventure- Junglee. There was a scene in which VJ’s character is seen playing with his elephant friend Bhola from the film. In between the shots, Moonbeam grabbed a ball and insisted on playing with VJ and the other elephant on the set - Bhola. It was a moment of coming of age for this baby elephant who otherwise wasn’t exposed to human touch before this.  Actors used to train with mahauts every day to be able to communicate with the elephants. They were told Moonbeam is too young to be spoken to, hence VJ always used to interact with his mother. Gradually Moonbeam started responding to VJ and during one of these scene shoots, he just grabbed a ball and started playing with him- expecting him to pass him the ball and move around with him to chase it. There was no stopping from there. Moonbeam became the youngest member of the team. VJ requested a separate pool for him on sets to keep him happy. Vidyut Jammwal shares, “It was surreal to see coming of age of a baby elephant. Like humans, elephants have a very close-knit family bond. This gesture of moonbeam made us felt welcomed in the herd we have been shooting with. The shoot of Junglee was full of similar fulfilling moments which are hard to come by in the restricted lives we have in cities. I’m glad we could get to show these experiences on a big screen with this film.” This is a partnered post.