Indians are proud and joyous because the Telugu blockbuster RRR, short for Rise Roar Revolt, Naatu Naatu is the first Indian film to win the Academy Award for best original song, making history. According to BBC News (www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-64899481), “the song became a global sensation – inspiring endless Instagram reels and dance trends on social media – after the film’s release in US last year, where its quick tempo and synchronised choreography were an instant hit with the audiences”. According to the Reuter, “The song – a fast-paced number that has found fans all over the world, spawned a TikTok challenge and has millions of views on YouTube – won a standing ovation when it was performed at the 95th Academy Awards”. It is pertinent to mention that Indians had won Oscars earlier, but no Indian film had won an Academy Award before. “The Elephant Whisperers” which won best documentary short film, gave the country two Oscar-winning films in one night. Thus, with two laurels Indian films particularly in Indian languages have reached across the world. According to BBC News, “It took around 19 months for all the elements of superhit musical number Naatu Naatu – which won a historic Oscar for Best Original Song – to fall into place”. In January 2023 it won the ‘Golden Globe’ for best original song. I appreciate the statement of the Director of the film S. S. Rajamouli when said, “It’s not just because of the music or the dance – the entire story of RRR can be summarised within these 10 minutes of Naatu Naatu,” (ibid). For the benefit of readers, I wish to mention that the Academy Award for Best Original Song is one of the awards given annually to people working in the motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is presented to the songwriters who have composed the best original song written specifically for a film. The performers of a song are not credited with the Academy Award unless they contributed either to music, lyrics, or both in their own right. The songs that are nominated for this award are typically performed during the ceremony and before this award is presented. I am presenting a few lines from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academy_Award
“The Academy Award for Best International Feature Film (known as Best Foreign Language Film prior to 2020) is one of the Academy Awards handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to a feature-length motion picture produced outside the United States with a predominantly non-English dialogue track.”
“When the first Academy Awards ceremony was held on May 16, 1929, to honor films released in 1927/28, there was no separate category for foreign language films because most of the films released in 1927 and in 1928 were silent films. Between 1947 and 1955, the academy presented Special/Honorary Awards to the best foreign language films released in the United States. These awards, however, were not handed out on a regular basis (no award was given in 1953), and were not competitive since there were no nominees but simply one winning film per year. For the 1956 (29th) Academy Awards, a competitive Academy Award of Merit, known as the Best Foreign Language Film Award, was created for non-English speaking films and has been given annually since then”.
I from the core of my heart congratulate all the people who were either at the forefront or behind the curtain for making success and bringing laurels to the entertainment world through the two films “RRR” and “The Elephant Whisperers”. I feel these two films have given a Great New Year (2023) gift to all the Indians – staying in the country or outside the country.
Dr. Shankar Chatterjee, Hyderabad.
