What do you know about Naatu Naatu, which beat Taylor Swift and Lady Gaga at the Golden Globes?
The song “Natu Nattu,” from the hit Telugu-language film “RRR,” was the historic and unexpected winner for Best Original Song at Tuesday’s Golden Globes, beating out Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga and Rihanna.
The 4 1/2-minute song, whose title means “Dance Dance” in Telugu, a language common in the southern Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, was opposite Taylor Swift’s “Carolina” from “Where the Crawdads Sing,” Lady Gaga and BloodPop’s “Hold My Hand” from Top Gun: Maverick, and Rihanna’s “Lift Me Up” from “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.”
The fast-paced song, which became the first Hindi song to win the category, is played during a garden party in the film where the lead characters Alluri Sitarama Raju (Ram Charan) and Kumaram Bhim (N.T. Rama Rao Jr.) outwit many unwelcome. White guests with blaring drums and whimsical stringed instruments.
“For people who are not used to watching Hindi films — they were dumbfounded,” said Roshona Majumdar, professor of film and media and professor of South Asian languages and civilizations at the University of Chicago.
“RRR,” Directed by SS Rajamouli, it follows the complex friendship of two Indian revolutionaries who team up to fight the British Raj in India in the 1920s before independence. There is no shortage of fantastical music numbers, fight sequences, and unrealistic and stunning CGI animals.
The film was also nominated for Best Picture in a Language Other than English. Hindi version of the movie which was added to Netflix in May, I soon became The most watched non-English film on the platform for several weeks.
Majumdar said she was overjoyed and surprised when Nato-Natu received the award.
“It makes [Golden Globes] Truly universal. We wouldn’t really be surprised if Rihanna or Taylor Swift won… While this win makes you sit up,” she said. “If you’re really looking to take other cultures seriously, which is one of the things that’s been insisted on in the last several years, I think this is It was a very good example.”
Majumdar believes that the success of the song and “RRR”, whose title stands for “Rise Roar Revolt”, will hopefully open the door for more international recognition for Indian cinema and music.
“[The film] Filling it with things that were ancient features of Indian cinema – song and dance, but we no longer need to be ashamed of it,” she said. “Earlier, it was seen as an alien feature of Hindi cinema. Many Western viewers will wonder why suddenly, in the middle of a movie, there was not one, or two, but several songs, and these movies aren’t necessarily musicals.”
Majumdar does not know the exact reason why people are drawn to the song but he thinks it is multi-faceted.
“It’s set in the context of that garden party where a group of Brits are blown away watching these two Indian boys do their number,” she said. “There are political messages in the song, which I think got people hooked along with the tapping quality and the amazing jumping and fast dancing.”
Composer MM Keeravani Approved the prize.
“I’m so overwhelmed that this amazing moment happened,” he said onstage. “It has been an old practice to say that this award actually belongs to someone else. So I’ve been planning on not saying those words when I receive an award like this, but I’m sorry to say I’m going to repeat the tradition because I mean my words.” He thanked Rajamouli and the lead actors Rao Jr., Charan, song lyricist, authors, programmers and scene painter.
Prior to the movie’s release, the song was also supported by TikTok videos that garnered millions of views, in which two people would attempt a number from the scene.
When I conceived of the song ‘Nattu Nattu’, Rajamouli Variety said. “While they (the two actors) are both great dancers, I didn’t want the steps to be too complicated for people to do. It should be like any two people—be it friends, mother and daughter, father and son, two brothers or sisters—will see it and feel like, ‘Let’s try this.’
The buzz around the song was building ahead of the awards ceremony.
During a sell-out screening of the film at the Chinese Theater on Monday, which featured Rajamouli, Keravani and lead actors Rama Rao Jr. and Ram Charan, the stage erupted into a dance party during the song, reported variety‘, though it is indicated that it is too late for the event to have an effect on the winner of the show.
“There has never been an academy show like this before!” Christian Parks, the host of the show, said, according to Variety.