OSCARRR

95th Academy Awards 2023 was held at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on Sunday. ‘Naatu Naatu’ from SS Rajamouli’s RRR has won the Oscar in the Best Song category by beating the other nominees in the category which included Applause (Tell It Like a Woman), Hold My Hand (Top Gun Maverick), Lift Me Up (Black Pather Wakanda Forever), and This is a Life (Everything Everywhere All at Once). With this, the film became the first song from any Indian production to win the award. It is the second Indian song to win this prestigious award, after Jai Ho from Slumdog Millionaire won one in 2009 in the same category.

Another Indian entry in the Academy Awards ‘The Elephant Whisperers’ also won an Oscar in the Best Documentary Short Film category. This 41 minutes short documentary movie of filmmaker Kartiki Gonsalves and producer Guneet Monga, explores the bond between Raghu, an orphaned baby elephant, and his caretakers. The Naatu Naatu craze has been taking over the Oscars this year. At the very start of the ceremony, the audience saw a spoof performance when Jimmy Kimmel was driven off stage by dancers performing the Naatu Naatu hookstep.

At the Dolby Theatre on Sunday, the audience also witnessed an energetic performance of the song. The performance also received a standing ovation from the audience. RRR garnered several US awards, made it to the BAFTA 2023 longlist in the Film Not in the English Language category, won the Golden Globes in the Best Original Song category, and also bagged the Best Song at the 28th edition of the Critics Choice Awards, along with Best Foreign Language Film, among others.

It is the first time that 3 India-made productions earned Oscar nominations and we brought home 2 awards with huge pride!