Anirban: thats the correct strategy when you encounter a large wildlife like an elephant or a bison. Its best to stay put and if possible, retreat gradually. From the pics, it seems that the elephant would not have charged at you. He was moving forward to scare you away. An attacking elephant has a whole different body language altogether. This one would not have attacked you.
We were once encountered with a lone tusker at dusk while on our way out of the Gorumara forest. Remember, there is no space to turn around your car. We were in a Sumo and the car in front of us was an Omni and the tusker was standing right in front of it. The driver of the Omni was inexperienced and he used the dipper/highbeam alternately to scare away the elephant. The elephant got angry, gave out a loud grunt, started breaking off tree branches and charged a few steps forward. Seeing this, the Omni started to reverse and unfortunately it had a reverse music fitted. As soon as the music went off, the elephant got even more angry and again charged. The omni driver lost control and fell into a ditch on the side of the road. The elephant stopped there. It could have easily played around with the Omni but did not. Now, we were face to face with the angry tusker. We stayed put, the gear engaged in reverse and revving low, the lights on low beam. This continued for about 15 minutes and the elephant kept observing us. Finally it decided to give way and moved into the forest, but before going, dropped an assortment of large tree branches and left them on the road, blocking our way
It took another 15 minutes to clear them up, which means you have to get out of the car and do that, knowing fully well that the tusker was nearby, watching you. We also helped the Omni come out of the ditch. It was a very intimidating experience.