A beautiful documentary on an orphan, adopted elephant and the adopting ‘parents’, was widely expected to win the Oscar award in this category.

The documentary, which tells the story of a couple who care for an injured baby elephant after it gets separated from its herd, is the first Indian production to bag a win in the category.

Shot in the picturesque Nilgiri mountains in southern India, The Elephant Whisperers explores the warm bond that develops between the human and animal as they begin to coexist.

The Elephant Whisperers is the first Indian film to win an Oscar in this category and the third to be nominated after The House That Ananda Built and An Encounter With Faces which competed for Best Documentary Short in 1969 and 1979, respectively.

While receiving the award, Director Kartiki said in her acceptance speech: “I stand here today to speak for the sacred bond between us and our natural world, for the respect of indigenous communities, and empathy towards other living beings we share space with and finally, for coexistence.”

She then thanked the Academy, the producer of the short, Guneet Monga, and her family before dedicating the win to her “motherland India”.

The Elephant Whisperers depicts an unbreakable bond between two abandoned elephants and their caretakers. It is produced by Guneet Monga and Achin Jain of Sikhya Entertainment.

Directed by Kartiki Gonsalves, the 41-minute short follows the family from Tamil Nadu’s Mudumalai Tiger Reserve that ends up adopting two orphan baby elephants. What was special about this India short was that it happened to be filmmaker Gonsalves’ directorial debut.

Earlier, she had told the media: “I followed Raghu’s story for five years, and had about 450 hours of footage. There are thousands of Raghu baths in there, so many hours of him eating food or playing. But you need to be patient (with something like this), and you get scenes like the one where Bellie tells Ammu to sit down next to her. These are intimate moments, which cannot be planned.”

Meanwhile, India’s nomination for the Best Documentary Feature, All That Breathes, lost the award to Navalny.

Prime Minister Modi congratulated the award winning film crew. In his second tweet, PM Modi congratulated the ‘Elephant Whispers’ team for the honour.

Natu Naatu

The song Naatu Naatu from the hit Telugu-language film RRR has made history by becoming the first Indian film song to win an Oscar. The blockbuster track won Best Original Song at the 95th Academy Awards, beating heavyweights like Lady Gaga and Rihanna.

Its catchy tempo and choreography has captivated audiences around the world.

Naatu Naatu is a thumping song that has got thousands grooving to its beats. The song already made history in January when it won a Golden Globe for the best original song – a first for India. The same month, it also won the Critics’ Choice award for the best song.

While accepting the Oscar, composer MM Keeravani said the song was “the pride of every Indian”.

He said that he had grown up listening to songs by The Carpenters – an American music duo – and sang the rest of his speech in the tune of their hit song Top Of The World.

The audience burst into laughter and applause as he said that RRR had “put me on the top of the world”.

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.

Bhairava and his co-singer Rahul Sipligunj also performed the song at the ceremony. The pulsating performance received a standing ovation from the audience.

The peppy track – which translates to “Dance, Dance” in Telugu – became a global sensation after the film’s release in the US last year.

Shot in front of the picturesque Mariinskyi Palace in Ukraine, the song features the film’s lead actors – Ram Charan and Jr NTR – performing energetic dance moves.

The film’s director, SS Rajamouli, told Vanity Fair that he envisioned Naatu Naatu as a “fight scene” in which two freedom fighters bring a British officer to his knees – through dance.

RRR – short for Rise, Roar, Revolt – is a historical fantasy that tells the story of two revolutionaries who fight against British rule in India. The dazzling action epic is one of India’s most expensive films. The song itself was shot over 15 days, with 150 dancers and a crew of 200 working 12 hours a day.

The song features beats commonly used in folk songs in India’s Telugu-speaking states, and several folksy references.
RRR garnered several US awards, made it to the BAFTA 2023 long list 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.

In his tweet, PM Modi said, “Extraordinary! The popularity of ‘Natu Nadu’ is universal. It will be a song that will be remembered for years. Congratulations to MM Karavani, Chandra Bose and the entire team for this prestigious honour. India is proud.”

List of Oscar Award Winners of India

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The film’s catchy musical number, Naatu Naatu, was awarded best original song, beating heavyweights like Taylor Swift and Rihanna.

Composer M.M. Keeravani, and singers Rahul Sipligunj and Kaala Bhairava won the Golden Globe award, which is a first for India, in the Best Original  “Naatu Naatu” Song, category.

Rajamouli, Keeravani and the film’s leads Ram Charan and NTR Jr were present at the January 10 ceremony at Hollywood’s Beverly Hilton Hotel.

The hit song was filmed in front of Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky’s official residence in 2021.

Accepting the award, composer MM Keeravani said he was thrilled by the song’s success.

Back home, several Indians including Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed their joy at the news. Modi congratulated the team, saying the “prestigious honour has made every Indian very proud.”.

Oscar-winning music composer AR Rahman called the win a “paradigm shift”.

Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan wrote on Twitter that he “woke up and started dancing to Naatu Naatu” to celebrate the news.

Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan said: “Congratulations RRR, for winning the Golden Globe Award . a most well deserving achievement !!”

Written and directed by SS Rajamouli, RRR, which stands for Rise, Roar, Revolt, is a historical fantasy that tells the rollicking story of two revolutionaries who fight against British rule in India – superstars Ram Charan and Jr NTR play the lead roles.

One of India’s most expensive films, the dazzling action epic has been a huge box-office success – not just domestically but also in countries such as the US. Hollywood actress Jessica Chastain tweeted last week that watching the film felt like “such a party”.

A Hindi-language version of the film on Netflix was among the platform’s Top 10 most watched titles in the US for weeks when it was released in May 2022. In December, BBC Culture film critics Nicholas Barber and Caryn James chose it as one of the 20 best films of the year, calling it a “crazily over-the-top action movie” with a powerful story.

Choreographer Prem Rakshit said that he composed nearly 95 dance steps for the song – with 30 different versions of the signature step in the chorus alone. It took about 19 months from the first discussion until the final, polished result emerged – a fun mish-mash of dance genres ranging from an old barn stomp to a bit of Gangnam Style gallop and traditional Bollywood movies.

Rajamouli previously told Variety: “Millions and millions of people were trying to do the steps and posting on it. It became such a big phenomenon when we released the song, and it clearly (increased) public interest in the film.”

“Naatu Naatu” is also one of the 15 songs shortlisted for the best original song Oscar.

The song was shot in front of the Mariinsky Palace in Ukraine – a gorgeous sea-blue structure of baroque architecture – months before the war began. The film’s director Rajamouli said in an interview that “luckily, they gave us permission to shoot because the Ukrainian president [Mr Zelensky] was a television actor”.

The idea was to create a song which took “enjoyment and joy” to a new level, the song’s composer Keeravani told BBC Telugu.

“Rajamouli told me that he wanted a song in which both the actors compete with each other and dance.”

Keeravani then asked lyricist Chandrabose to pen the words.

“I told him that you can write whatever you want but the song should create excitement and enthusiasm about the dance moves of the lead actors,” Keeravani said.

On Wednesday(January 11), fans could barely contain their happiness on Twitter as they celebrated the award.

“This is history in making Indian cinema on a global platform,” a user wrote.

Telugu superstar Chiranjeevi Konidela, who is also Charan’s father, called it a “phenomenal, historic win” – a sentiment echoed by several others in the film industry and beyond.

RRR was also nominated in the Best Non-English Language Film category at the Golden Globes, but lost to Argentina, 1985.

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The hit song was filmed in front of Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky’s official residence in 2021. Accepting the award, composer MM Keeravani said he was thrilled by the song’s success.

Back home, several Indians including Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed their joy at the news. Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan wrote on Twitter that he “woke up and started dancing to Naatu Naatu” to celebrate the news.

Written and directed by SS Rajamouli, RRR, which stands for Rise, Roar, Revolt, is a historical fantasy that tells the rollicking story of two revolutionaries who fight against British rule in India – superstars Ram Charan and Jr NTR play the lead roles.

One of India’s most expensive films, the dazzling action epic has been a huge box-office success – not just domestically but also in countries such as the US. Hollywood actress Jessica Chastain tweeted last week that watching the film felt like “such a party”.

Choreographer Prem Rakshit said that he composed nearly 95 dance steps for the song – with 30 different versions of the signature step in the chorus alone. It took about 19 months from the first discussion until the final, polished result emerged – a fun mish-mash of dance genres ranging from an old barn stomp to a bit of Gangnam Style gallop and traditional Bollywood movies.

The post RRR’s Naatu Naatu wins Golden Globe for best original song appeared first on Views On News.