Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Mar 13: It was a glorious moment for the Indian cinema when two of its nominations won the coveted Oscars and the third missed it just by a whisker with an Indian celebrity also being the presenter at the award presentation ceremony.
Receiving the glory at the global stage were “The Elephant Whisperers” bagging the Academy awards in “Best Documentary Short” category while the RRR’s “Naatu Naatu” getting the award for “Best Original Song.”
The Shaunak Sen-directed “All That Breathes” was also nominated for the “Best Documentary Feature Film” category of the 95th Academy Awards and was short-listed also but came next best with the Oscar going to “Navalny.” It was also the second year in a row, an Indian documentary was shortlisted for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film. Last year, Writing with Fire, directed by Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh, too was nominated in the same category.
Topping all was the noted actor Deepika Padukone being selected as a presenter at the Academy Award presented on Sunday night. Never before has India had three productions nominated at the Academy Awards, besides an Indian celebrity presenter, actor Deepika Padukone, in the same year. This is enough to evoke a sense of euphoria among film lovers in the country.
The Prime Minister Narendra Modi and many other celebrities congratulated the makers of “The Elephant Whisperers” and “Naatu Naatu” for securing the glorious awards.
In the run-up to the award ceremony, the details of special dinners and parties attended by the nominees only sharpened that feeling. The awards have also put the spotlight on Indian talents as well as the country’s unique storytelling traditions. This attention is something Indian creators can capitalise on. Online streaming services have blurred geographical barriers, with titles from one part of the world available in others.
Both “The Elephant Whisperers” and RRR (Rise, Roar, Revolt) are Indian productions which tell stories deeply rooted in India and Indian culture. The Kartiki Gonsalves-directed The Elephant Whisperers is a heart-warming documentary about Bomman and Bellie, a couple belonging to an indigenous tribe in south India, who dedicatedly look after orphaned baby elephants named Raghu and Ammu, forging a family like no other. In contrast, SS Rajamouli-directed RRR is a grand cinematic tale that packs action, adventure, music and dance as it follows the friendship of two revolutionaries who fight the British in the 1920s.
When musician MM Keeravani and lyricist Chandrabose received the coveted golden statuettes for Best Original Song at the Academy Awards, it marked the culmination of the euphoria that ‘Naatu Naatu’, the grand song-and-dance sequence from RRR had kicked off. The song’s immense popularity — 124 million views on YouTube and counting — powered the RRR team’s tireless campaign, spearheaded by Rajamouli. This campaign acquired a special significance since the RRR team continued its efforts to bring home the coveted golden statuette even after being snubbed during India’s official selection made by the Film Federation of India (FFI) for the country’s official entry for the Academy Award in the Best Foreign Film category.
RRR continued to make its presence felt in the award season with multiple wins, the most prominent being the Golden Globe Award for Best Song, five Hollywood Critics Association Awards and two Critics’ Choice Movie Awards. This kind of success for a mainstream Indian movie during the award season could change the way Indian filmmakers pursue international glory and recognition.
Emboldened by the love and appreciation the Telugu-language RRR had received since its release abroad, the team submitted the film for Oscars nomination in 14 categories.
In spite of the incredible buzz generated by this big-screen period film, RRR made it to just one category — Best Original Song — in the final Oscar shortlist. That’s still a commendable feat since the Rajamouli directorial didn’t have official backing.
Recalling his pre-Oscar experience, Rahman (who won the Oscar in 2009 for Best Score in Slumdog Millionaire) in a social media post recalled feeling like a “gladiator” with everyone around cheering for him. Rajamouli and his team must have experienced similar emotions. With the Oscar win, what they have achieved is unprecedented. They have also acquainted the foreign audience with older works of Rajamouli, which were re-released and sought out by film lovers.
The Elephant Whisperers, produced by Guneet Monga and Achin Jain, was a frontrunner for the award in the Best Documentary Short Film category. All That Breathes follows two brothers who have dedicated their lives to protecting the Black Kite in a Delhi battling pollution as well as a changing social fabric.
After Naatu Naatu‘s big win at the Oscars, members of the Indian film fraternity united to congratulate team RRR. Film legends Rajinikanth and Chiranjeevi, RRR Stars Alia Bhatt and Ajay Devgn, Academy Award winning composer AR Rahman, actors Hrithik Roshan, Mahesh Babu were among the many celebs that extended their wishes after the film’s glorious victory.
MM Keeravaani and Chandrabose join a select group of Indians to have previously won Oscars – costume designer Bhanu Athaiya, composer AR Rahman, lyricist Gulzar, sound engineer Resul Pookutty, and legendary filmmaker Satyajit Ray who received an honorary award. Naatu Naatu is the first Indian song – and RRR is the first Indian film – to have won an Oscar.
RRR, set in British India, has won hearts across the world – it’s running to full houses in Japan and recently held its largest screening yet in a Los Angeles cinema where the audience danced along to Naatu Naatu. The song, filmed outside the Presidential Palace in pre-war Kyiv, Ukraine, is an infectious dance battle between Ram Charan and Jr NTR’s characters, Raju and Bheem, versus their British counterparts.
At the 95th Academy Awards, the bonus for India was that actor Deepika Padukone introduced the performance. She said, “An irresistibly catchy chorus, electrifying beats and killer dance moves to match have made this song a global sensation. It plays during a pivotal scene in RRR, a movie about the friendship between real-life Indian revolutionaries Alluri Sitarama Raju and Komaram Bheem. In addition to being sung in Telugu and illustrating the film’s anti-colonialist themes, it’s also a total banger.”
She added, “It’s earned millions of views on Youtube and Tik Tok. Has audiences dancing in movie theatres all around the world and is also the first song ever from Indian production to be nominated for an Oscar. Do you know Naatu? Because if you don’t you’re about to. From the film RRR this is Naatu Naatu.”
