Online searches for ‘Naatu Naatu’ on Google skyrocketed by a whopping 1,105 per cent worldwide after the super-hit song from the Telugu blockbuster ‘RRR’ won the Best Original Song at the 95th Academy Awards.
The finding by Japanese online casino guide 6Takarakuji, after sifting through Google Search trend data, revealed that online interest for ‘Naatu Naatu’ multiplied over 10 times the average volume, just hours after the Telugu-language film swept the Oscar award. “The Indian song has become a popular sensation on TikTok, with 52.6 million views since its release in March last year,” the findings showed. The song presents a high-tempo rhythm and a dance battle between the legendary revolutionaries and their colonial masters.
“History was made during this year’s Oscars ceremony, as aNaatu Naatu’ became the first song from an Indian film to win in the Best Song category,” said a spokesperson for 6Takarakuji.
The song won over the likes of music legends such as Lady Gaga and Rihanna, which is a testament to the song’s huge popularity, as highlighted by the huge spike in this data.
“During the Oscars ceremony, the electrifying live performance of the song by singers Rahul Sipligunj and Kaala Bhairava received a standing ovation from the crowd, and this historic win will give ‘RRR’ and ‘Naatu Naatu’ some well-deserved exposure,” the spokesperson added.
Bhairava and Rahul were on cloud nine after meeting Rihanna on the sidelines of the 95th Academy Awards.
Bhairava shared a picture taken with the nine-time Grammy Award winner. Sipligunj and choreographer Prem Rakshith were also seen with the superstar singer.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi also congratulated music director M.M. Keeravani and lyricist Chandra Bose after their song won the prestigious Oscar award. Source: IANS
Tag: Naatu Naatu
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Google searches for ‘Naatu Naatu’ skyrocket 1,105 percent after Oscar feat
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Oscars won, Indian cinema poised for greater glory
Naysayers are likely to attribute reasons other than quality to India’s ascent on the Oscars stage. That we are not only a huge movie-producing country but also a voracious entertainment-consuming one is often attributed as the trigger behind our growing eminence. That this is why Hollywood ropes in our big stars in its films and, now, series too, is not a statement but almost an aspersion. In Netflix looking for new markets, too, we can sense a plan behind the India push.
By Nonika Singh India shines at the Oscars — the words seem surreal. In a dream-come-true moment as India has picked up not one but two Oscars (Best Original Song and Best Documentary Short) out of three nominations, it’s not just the makers of RRR and The Elephant Whisperers who stand proud. The electrifying feeling of joy in sync with the infectious beats of Naatu Naatu, composed by MM Keeravani, has spread across the country and the whisper is loud and clear — India can do it.
RRR roars once again and Guneet Monga, producer of the Kartiki Gonsalves-directed The Elephant Whisperers, beams, “We as two women from India stood on that global stage making this historical win! 1.4 billion Indians, this is for you. We’ve all manifested this together.”
Indeed, magical! How and why? Before we answer that, the more important question is why India, one of the largest film producers in the world, couldn’t crack the code earlier.
Year after year, we have lamented over why India can’t win an Oscar and reams have been written about our dismal (near blank) record at the prestigious Academy Awards, often considered the hallmark of excellence and gold standard of recognition. Experts have time and again rued that if countries like Iran and South Korea can take home Oscars, what stops India, where there is no dearth of quality cinema. If India-centric films such as Life of Pi, the survival saga of an Indian boy, could win its director Ang Lee the coveted Best Director statuette, why can’t our storytellers get it right?
Often, the blame has been laid at the door of our official selections. This year, too, much hue and cry was made when Pan Nalin’s acclaimed film Last Film Show was chosen as India’s official entry to the Oscars. Objections were raised by certain sections to the film, which, after making it to the shortlist, fell out of the race. In fact, similar has been the fate of our entries each year, leaving us to draw comfort in the few that have come our way.
Costume designer Bhanu Athaiya, composer AR Rahman, lyricist Gulzar, sound engineer Resul Pookutty and legendary filmmaker Satyajit Ray, who received an honorary award, are part of the select Oscar club.
But what makes this year’s win truly delicious is that, for once, Oscars are for Indian films by Indian production houses. So far, our Oscar victories have been limited to India-centric films by foreign producers and directors. If back in time, it was Richard Attenborough’s Gandhi that fetched costume designer Bhanu Athaiya an Oscar, making her the first Indian to get it, Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire gave us the chance to chorus Jai Ho. But Naatu Naatu gives us a greater reason to rejoice and break into a hook step that has the world hooked in pure frenzy. In fact, the world has been dancing to the tunes of the ebullient Telugu song for quite some time now.
Prior to its Oscar win, SS Rajamouli’s blockbuster RRR picked up the Golden Globe award for Best Original Song, too. The resounding success of the song is not hard to decode. From lilting lyrics to its catchy beats and dance steps and the way it has been picturized, all elements tick the right boxes. What is even sweeter is that it puts to rest all skepticism about India’s naach-gaana brand of cinema and proves that music and dance are our USP, not Achilles’ heel.
But, does the twin Oscar victory mean India has arrived on the world map of cinema? Judging by the standing ovation that the Naatu Naatu performance by its singers Rahul Sipligunj and Kaala Bhairava got at the 95th Academy Awards, one is tempted to say yes. The Elephant Whisperers’ maiden victory for India in the Documentary Short Subject category, too, makes us nod emphatically.
Of course, naysayers are likely to attribute reasons other than quality to India’s ascent on the Oscars stage. The fact that we are not only a huge movie-producing country but also a voracious entertainment-consuming one is often attributed as the trigger behind our growing eminence. That this is why Hollywood ropes in our big stars in its films and, now, series too, is not a statement but almost an aspersion. In Netflix, a major OTT player, looking for new markets, too, we can sense a plan and method behind the India push.
Add to it the fact that diversity and inclusivity have been pushed to the forefront in Hollywood for quite some time now. More than one Oscar ceremony has created history. In 2020, South Korean film Parasite became the first foreign language film to win the Best Picture Award at the Oscars, thus breaking the “one-inch-tall barrier of subtitles.” Take this year’s Best Film Award-winning Everything Everywhere All At Once. The Best Actress trophy for its lead actress Michelle Yeoh makes her the first woman of Asian descent to win the award. Clearly, India could not have been ignored for too long. RRR makers have been making the right kind of noises ever since the film figured in the Oscar nomination list. Let’s admit it — winning an Oscar is as much a marketing strategy, perhaps popular appeal too, as it is a litmus test of excellence.
Of course, the tumultuous response that RRR has generated overseas can’t be orchestrated through a media blitzkrieg alone. India might still be far from winning the best film in even the International Feature category, let alone the overall one. The closest we have come are Lagaan, Salaam Bombay and Mother India making it to the prestigious final-five list of nominees.
Thus, there is no discounting the history we have created this year. It is more than heartening that Naatu Naatu beat top contenders like Rihanna’s Lift Me Up from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and Lady Gaga’s Hold My Hand from Top Gun: Maverick among other nominees and The Elephant Whisperers defeated acclaimed competitors like Jay Rosenblatt’s How Do You Measure A Year? To borrow from the words of Michelle Yeoh, the new tidings at the Academy Awards “is indeed a beacon of hope and possibilities” and, as our very own star of RRR, Jr NTR, said, “It’s only a beginning.” On the red (sorry, champagne) carpet, his co-star Ram Charan remarked, “We are not just coming as ourselves but we are coming as India today.”
So, watch out, world, here we come! With our diversity, cultural specificity and inclusivity intact.
(The author is an Assistant Editor of The Tribune, Chandigarh) -
INDIA GETS THREE NOMS FOR 95TH OSCARS®
By Mabel Pais
The 95th Oscars® nominations were announced on Tuesday, January 24 by Oscar®-winning actor-producer Riz Ahmed and actor Allison Williams live from the Academy’s (The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) Samuel Goldwyn Theater via a global live stream on Oscar.com, Oscars.org and the Academy’s digital platforms, an international satellite feed and broadcast media.
For a complete list of nominees in all 23 categories, visit oscar.com.
This year, the Academy saw its highest ever voter participation in the organization’s history, with members submitting ballots from 80 countries.
Active members of the Academy are eligible to vote for the winners in all 23 categories beginning Thursday, March 2, through Tuesday, March 7. The 95th Oscars will be held on Sunday, March 12, 2023, at the Dolby® Theatre at Ovation Hollywood and will be televised live on ABC television and in more than 200 territories worldwide.
India was honored with nominations in three categories: Documentary Feature Film, Documentary Short Film, and Music (for Original Song).
Documentary Feature Film
ALL THAT BREATHES
Director: Shaunak Sen l Producers: Shaunak Sen, Aman Mann & Teddy Leifer l
All That Breathes. (Photo Credit : allthatbreathes.com) In Shaunak Sen’s ‘All That Breathes’ the film-viewer gets an insight to one of the world’s most populated Indian cities where cows, rats, monkeys, frogs, and hogs jostle cheek-by-jowl with people. Here, two brothers fall in love with a bird – the black kite.
From their makeshift bird hospital in their tiny basement, the ”kite brothers” care for thousands of these mesmeric creatures that drop daily from New Delhi’s smog-choked skies. As environmental toxicity and civil unrest escalate, the relationship between this Muslim family and the neglected kite forms a poetic chronicle of the city’s collapsing ecology and rising social tensions.
“The city itself – replete with the many human-animal ensembles in it – features in the film as a character,” says Shaunak Sen. “As a method, I am deeply interested in looking at everyday banal phenomena that usually occupy the fringes of our vision, as objects of rigorous study. Through this film, I want to harness the enchantment of the sky. I want audiences to leave theatres and instinctively look up – to think of the sky and the birds in it as novel, wonderfully alien things.”
Nadeem Shehzad and his younger brother Mohammad Saud featured in the film are former bodybuilders from the Chawri Bazar area of New Delhi. They started treating black kites in 2003. Since then, they have together treated more than 20,000 injured birds. Nadeem was recently appointed as an Honorary Wildlife Warden of Delhi, and in 2021 spent three months in the U.S. for training with bird rescue organizations. Today, Nadeem and Saud continue to work tirelessly to treat black kites and other birds of prey through the organization they set up in 2010: ‘Wildlife Rescue.’
All That Breathes. (Photo Credit : allthatbreathes.com) ‘All That Breathes’ has received the following awards
** 2022 Sundance Film Festival World Cinema Grand Jury Prize for Documentary **
** 2022 Cannes Film Festival Prize for Best Documentary (L’Œil d’Or) **
** 2022 BFI London Film Festival Grierson Award for Best Documentary **
** 2022 Hong Kong International Film Festival Golden Firebird Award in Documentary Competition **
** 2022 IDA Documentary Awards for Best Feature Documentary, Best Director, Best Editing, and Pare Lorentz Award**
** 2022 Cinema Eye Honors Awards for Outstanding Nonfiction Feature, and Outstanding Cinematography **
** 2022 Gotham Award for Best Documentary Feature **
** 2022 Asia Pacific Screen Award for Best Documentary Film **
‘All That Breathes’ was nominated against
‘All the Beauty and the Bloodshed’ – Producers: Laura Poitras, Howard Gertler, John Lyons, Nan Goldin and Yoni Golijov
‘Fire of Love’ – Producers: Sara Dosa, Shane Boris and Ina Fichman
‘A House Made of Splinters’ – Producers: Simon Lereng Wilmont and Monica Hellström, and
‘Navalny’ – Producers: Daniel Roher, Odessa Rae, Diane Becker, Melanie Miller and Shane Boris
Documentary Short Film
THE ELEPHANT WHISPERERS
Director: Kartiki Gonsalves l Producers: Kartiki Gonsalves & Guneet Monga l India l 2022 l Color l PG l 41m
The Elephant Whisperers. (Photo Credit : sikhyaentertainment.com) Bomman and Bellie, a couple in Tamil Nadu’s Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (South India), devote their lives to caring for an orphaned baby elephant named Raghu, forging a family like no other that tests the barrier between the human and the animal world.
‘Elephant Whisperers’ was in competition with
‘Haulout’ – Producers: Evgenia Arbugaeva and Maxim Arbugaev
‘How Do You Measure a Year?’ – Producer: Jay Rosenblatt
‘The Martha Mitchell Effect’ – Producers: Anne Alvergue and Beth Levison
‘Stranger at the Gate’ – Producers: Joshua Seftel and Conall Jones
Music (Original Song)
India has made history with ‘Naatu Naatu’ (film, ‘RRR’) as the first Asian song in 2022 to win a Golden Globe Award in the category!
NAATU NAATU (from film ‘RRR’)
Director: S.S. Rajamouli l 2022 l India l Telugu w/Eng subs l 3h 2m
Music: M.M. Keeravaani l Lyric: Chandrabose
RRR: ‘Naatu Naatu’ dance. (Photo Credit : DVV Entertainments.) From writer-director S. S. Rajamouli (Baahubali) comes the international blockbuster that has enchanted movie audiences of all ages with its jaw-dropping action sequences, swooning romantic intrigue, infectious musical numbers— particularly, the sensation ‘Naatu Naatu’—and rousing central friendship between two pre-Independence revolutionaries, played by Telugu-language megastars Ram Charan and N.T. Rama Rao, Jr. (better known as Jr. NTR).
“The emotions have to be grounded and real, they can’t be over the top. If you can capture your audience with emotion, you can fictionalize any part of history, anyone or anything,” says S.S. Rajamouli.
From an original story by V. Vijayendra Prasad, the historical action epic RRR (short for Rise, Roar, Revolt) follows the fictionalized paths of real-life freedom fighters Alluri Sitarama Raju (Ram Charan) and Komaram Bheem (Rama Rao) as they come together in 1920s Delhi to battle the nefarious British Raj for the rescue of a kidnapped girl from Bheem’s tribe.
In the movie, Raju comes to represent fire, while Bheem symbolizes water; their coming together as friends makes them an indomitable force. The plot explores the undocumented period in the lives of two very different freedom fighters during the height of the Raj—but R.R.R. is at its heart a story about India coming into its own.
‘Naatu Naatu’ won the nomination in competition with
‘Applause’ from ‘Tell It like a Woman’ – Music and Lyric by Diane Warren
‘Hold My Hand’ from ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ – Music and Lyric by Lady Gaga & BloodPop
‘Lift Me Up’ from ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ – Music by Tems, Rihanna, Ryan Coogler and Ludwig Goransson; Lyric by Tems and Ryan Coogler
‘This Is A Life’ from ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’ – Music by Ryan Lott, David Byrne and Mitski; Lyric by Ryan Lott and David Byrne.
(Mabel Pais writes on The Arts and Entertainment, Social Issues, Health & Wellness, Cuisine and Spirituality)
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INDIA MAKES HISTORY AT GOLDEN GLOBES, 3 FILMS SHORTLISTED FOR ‘OSCARS’
- By Mabel Pais
What a wonderful way to ring in 2023!
India has made history as the first Asian song with ‘Naatu Naatu’ (film, ‘RRR’) winning the Golden Globe Award for BEST ORIGINAL SONG – MOTION PICTURE, SONGWRITER M.M. KEERAVAANI for 2022!
Further, films from India have been Shortlisted by The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (The 95th – ‘Oscars’) in three categories: Documentary Feature Film, International Feature Film and Music (Original Song).
The ten categories are Documentary Feature Film, Documentary Short Film, International Feature Film, Makeup and Hairstyling, Music (Original Score), Music (Original Song), Animated Short Film, Live Action Short Film, Sound and Visual Effects.
The nominees for ‘The Oscars’ will be announced by The Academy on Tuesday, January 24 and the Awards Ceremony will take place on Sunday, March 12.
In the Documentary Feature film category, ‘All That Breathes’ has not only won several awards and recognitions at several film festivals and organizations (see poster) but was also shortlisted in the Documentary Feature Film category by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
‘OSCAR’ SHORTLISTS
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE FILM
‘All That Breathes’
Dir/Co-Prod: Shaunak Sen l Co-Prods: Aman Mann and Teddy Leifer l 2022 l India/USA/UK l 1h 34m
‘All that Breathes,’ poster (Credit / allthatbreathes.com) In one of the world’s most populated cities, two brothers – Nadeem and Saud – devote their lives to the quixotic effort of protecting the black kite, a majestic bird of prey essential to the ecosystem of New Delhi that has been falling from the sky at alarming rates. Amid environmental toxicity and social unrest, the ‘kite brothers’ spend day and night caring for the creatures in their makeshift avian basement hospital. Director Shaunak Sen (Cities of Sleep) explores the connection between the kites and the Muslim brothers who help them return to the skies, offering a mesmerizing chronicle of inter-species coexistence.
Gotham Film Awards, in presenting the Best Documentary Feature Award to Shaunak Sen commented – “a sublime mix of social issue focus and poetic artistry that embraces the interconnectedness of all living things in this portrait of a pair of Muslim brothers who tend to sick birds (primarily predatory kites) that fall from the polluted sky in New Delhi and are nursed to health in their small basement clinic.”
‘All That Breathes’ took the top prize for Outstanding Achievement in Non-Fiction Feature Filmmaking as well as the award for Cinematography.
INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM
‘Last Film Show’
Dir/Writ: Pan Nalin l Gujarati l 1h 51m
Last Film Show (Credit / lastfilmshow.net) In the ‘Last Film Show,’ Samay, a 9-year-old boy living with his family in a remote village in India discovers films for the first time and is absolutely mesmerized. Against his father’s wishes, he returns to the cinema day after day to watch more films, and even befriends the projectionist, who, in exchange for his lunch box, lets him watch movies for free. He quickly figures out that stories become light, light becomes films, and films become dreams. Samay and his wild gang of friends move heaven and earth to catch and project light to achieve a 35mm film projection. But little do they know that soon they’ll be forced to make heartbreaking choices as an era is approaching to annihilate everything they love about their 35mm dreams…
MUSIC (ORIGINAL SONG)
“Nattu Nattu” (from film “RRR”)
Dir: S.S. Rajamouli l 2022 l India l Telugu w/Eng subs l 3h 2m
The music for “Naatu Naatu” is composed by M.M. Keeravani with Lyrics by Chandrabose.
Naatu Naatu dance scene. (Credit /RRR.) From writer-director S. S. Rajamouli (Baahubali) comes the international blockbuster that has enchanted movie audiences of all ages with its jaw-dropping action sequences, swooning romantic intrigue, infectious musical numbers— including the sensation “Naatu Naatu”—and rousing central friendship between two pre-Independence revolutionaries, played by Telugu-language megastars Ram Charan and N.T. Rama Rao, Jr. (better known as Jr. NTR).
From an original story by V. Vijayendra Prasad, the historical action epic RRR (short for Rise, Roar, Revolt) follows the fictionalized paths of real-life freedom fighters Alluri Sitarama Raju (Charan) and Komaram Bheem (Rama Rao) as they come together in 1920s Delhi to battle the nefarious British Raj for the rescue of a kidnapped girl from Bheem’s tribe.
(Mabel Pais writes on The Arts and Entertainment, Social Issues, Health & Wellness, Cuisine and Spirituality)
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RRR wins Golden Globe for best song for Naatu Naatu, loses best picture-non English trophy
Naatu Naatu, the irrepressible, fun number from the blockbuster RRR, danced its way to a Golden Globe as the ‘best original song-motion picture’ — and to Indian showbiz history — at a star spangled awards ceremony in Los Angeles on Tuesday, January 10, night.
The song, which beat the likes of Taylor Swift, Rihanna and Lady Gaga, to win the coveted award is the first time that an Indian production has won a Golden Globe.
RRR had also been nominated in the ‘best picture-non English’ category and lost out to Argentina’s historical drama Argentina, 1985. But there was compensation aplenty. “And the Globe goes to Naatu Naatu RRR,” actor Jenna Ortega announced on stage to loud cheers from the RRR team.
The track has been composed by veteran music director MM Keeravaani and voiced by singers Kala Bhairava and Rahul Sipligunj. Naatu Naatu, filmed on Ram Charan and Jr NTR, roughly translates to dance like no one’s watching in Telugu. Choreographed by Prem Rakshith, it has legions of followers still trying to master its steps. Naatu Naatu was nominated alongside Taylor Swift’s Carolina from Where The Crawdads Sing, Ciao Papa from Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, Lady Gaga’s Hold My Hand from Top Gun: Maverick and Rihanna’s Lift Me Up from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
Source: PTI