‘Naatu Naatu’, the score from the superhit multilingual box-office success ‘RRR’ which has already bagged a Golden Globe Award, leads India’s nominations tally for the Oscars with a chance at being crowned the Best Original Song.
The 95th Academy Award nominations, unveiled in Hollywood this week, also has two Indian documentaries in the running: ‘All That Breathes’, also nominated for a BAFTA, in the Oscars race for Best Documentary Feature Film, and ‘The Elephant Whisperers’ for Best Documentary Short.
Indian filmmaker S.S. Rajamouli took to social media to express his excitement, saying he was doing ‘Naatu Naatu’ more vigorously than Tarak and Charan – the lead actors in the film.
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Earlier in the year, 'Naatu Naatu' bagged the Golden Globes in Best Original Song category. The song also won the Critics Choice Award in the same category, with the film winning 'Best Foreign Language Film' at the awards too.
An Oscar win for ‘RRR’ will be among the most memorable and golden moments for the Indian film industry. The film is a fictional story based on the lives of two Telugu freedom fighters, Alluri Seetharama Raju and Komaram Bheem – played by Ram Charan and Jr NTR played lead roles.
Jr NTR took to his Instagram account to congratulate the whole team for the historical nomination.
"Congratulations #MMKeeravaani Garu and @boselyricist Garu on achieving another well-deserved and monumental feat... This song will forever hold a special place in my heart," he said.
"What brilliant news! Truly an honour to see ‘Naatu Naatu’ nominated for the Oscars. Another very proud moment for us & India. Well deserved @MMKeeravaani Garu, @SSRajamouli Garu, my brother @tarak9999and the entire team of #RRR All love," wrote co-star Ram Charan.
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The M.M. Kreem melody will compete against four others – ‘Applause’ from ‘Tell It Like A Woman’; Lady Gaga's ‘Hold My Hand’ from ‘Top Gun: Maverick’; Rihanna's ‘Lift Me Up’ from ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’; and ‘This Is A Life’ from ‘Everything Everywhere All At Once’.
India's official Oscar entry, ‘Chhello Show’ or ‘Last Picture Show’, failed to make the final cut in the Best International Feature Film category.