MM Keeravani is confident Oscar statuette is within reach at ceremony

Naatu Naatu, the standout song in the Indian period film ‘RRR’, has won a Golden Globe and a Critics’ Choice Award, garnered hundreds of millions of views on ‘YouTube’ and spawned a ‘TikTok’ challenge. Recently, it received an Oscar nomination for ‘best original song’, making history as the first Indian feature film to be nominated for anything other than 'best international film' at the Academy Awards.

Composer MM Keeravani is confident the Oscar statuette is within reach at the ceremony in Hollywood on March 12.

“Yeah, I can see the moment taking root and growing higher and higher, so all fingers crossed and I have full confidence in Oscar too,” he said during a recent interview with ‘Reuters’.

He added with a laugh, “They were all very excited and they were jumping for joy. I wasn’t jumping because I was surrounded by them and they were suffocating me with their congratulations and their hugs.”

‘Naatu Naatu’ and Keeravani are competing with some big household names in the best song category, including Lady Gaga’s ‘Hold My Hand’ from ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ and Rihanna’s ‘Lift Me Up’ from ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’.

In the action-Tollywood epic directed by SS Rajamouli, ‘Naatu Naatu’ begins when the two leads, played by Ram Charan and NT Rama Rao Jr, flaunt their dance skills after being bullied as the only Indian people invited to a British party in colonial times.

When a young British man aims racist insults at the leads, they decide to educate him using the song. During the scene, which was shot at Ukraine’s grand Mariinskyi Palace, everyone at the party, including the scoffing British man, tries to master the moves.