The song Naatu Naatu from the hit Telugu-language film RRR has made history by becoming the first Indian film song to win an Oscar.
The blockbuster track won Best Original Song at the 95th Academy Awards, beating heavyweights like Lady Gaga and Rihanna.
Its catchy tempo and choreography has captivated audiences around the world.
India’s big win remained Naatu Naatu (a Telugu word which means raw or rustic) – a thumping song that has got people around the world grooving to its beats.
The song already made history in January when it won a Golden Globe for the best original song – a first for India. The same month, it also won the Critics’ Choice award for the best song.
While accepting the Oscar, composer MM Keeravani said the song was “the pride of every Indian”.
He said that he had grown up listening to songs by The Carpenters – an American music duo – and sang the rest of his speech in the tune of their hit song Top Of The World.
The audience burst into laughter and applause as he said that RRR had “put me on the top of the world”.
‘RRR’ director SS Rajamouli has also made the Baahubali films, which started the pan-Indian movie trend. ‘RRR’ is an action drama of epic proportions. Set in 1920, it tells a fictionalised story of two real-life Indian revolutionaries, Alluri Sitharama Raju (Ram Charan) and Komaram Bheem (Jr NTR). Even though the two never actually met, the film is centred around their friendship and how they overcome the odds during the freedom struggle.
‘Naatu Naatu’ comes at a pivotal point in the film: the two heroes are at a party hosted by the British elite and decide to show the British what ‘real dancing’ is all about. It is an assertion of their pride as Indians, and as some white people at the party enthusiastically take to the song, it is also an indication of how the tide is turning against the strictly enforced sense of superiority that the British had enforced on their colonial subjects.
Before ‘Naatu Naatu’: AR Rahman, ‘Jai Ho’ and Lagaan
Excitement over the recognition of Indian films (or those having Indian artists) coming from Western academies is not new. This reached a fever-pitch with the hype around ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ and the adulation that followed its multiple wins at the ceremony.
AR Rahman then became the first Indian to win two Oscars in 2009, for the Best Original Score of Slumdog Millionaire and Best Original Song for its foot-tapping number Jai Ho, sung by Sukhwinder Singh and Mahalaxmi Iyer. Before the Oscar, Rahman won a Golden Globe for Best Score and a British Academy Film Award or BAFTA. These ceremonies are followed by the Oscar, and a win there is seen as boosting chances of an Oscar win — which seems to have been the case for ‘Naatu Naatu’ as well.