The party began two months ago, when ‘Naatu Naatu’ won this year’s Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song. The Oscar win announced on March 12, also in the same category, was the sixth award for the tune, the others being the Georgia Film Critics Association Award, the Critics’ Choice Award, the Online Film Critics Society Award and the Houston Film Critics Award.
From this list, it’s evident that besides two key Hollywood film recognitions, M M Keeravani’s composition for the film ‘RRR’ was appreciated enormously by American critics too. Yet, in India, the initial reaction had been mixed. Going by posts on social media and heard since the Golden Globe win, Indians are happy for Keeravani, who has for years lived under the shadow of south India-based geniuses Ilaiyaraaja and A R Rahman. Simultaneously, they believe that the composer has created much more admirable music, both in Telugu and in Hindi, where he goes by the name M M Kreem.
Yet, there are many reasons to celebrate the ‘Naatu Naatu’ win. Sung by Rahul Sipligunj and Kaala Bhairava, and written by Chandrabose, this is the first song by an Indian production to win an Oscar, which is noteworthy. Though Rahman won the Oscars for both best song and best score -‘Slumdog Millionaire’, 2009 - that was essentially a British production, directed by Danny Boyle. ‘RRR’, on the other hand, is a Telugu film directed by S S Rajamouli.
Reasons behind Naatu Naatu's win
Though some have dismissed its tune as ordinary, a few things worked in favour of ‘Naatu Naatu’, which had to compete with Lady Gaga and Rihanna. One is the setting in the backdrop of the Mariinsky Palace in Kiev, Ukraine, where the sequence was filmed before the Russian invasion. The second was the brilliantly choreographed dance, performed by Ram Charan and N T Rama Rao Jr, opening with, “Not salsa, not flamenco, my brother… do you know naatu?” The face-off between the Indian duo and Colonialists lends nostalgia. Finally, there’s a driving energy in the song’s rhythms, aided by the prominent use of duffs, enhancing the effect. All of these factors came into play at the live performance on Oscar night, eliciting a standing ovation.
The success of ‘Naatu Naatu’ is a special moment for Keeravani, who had earlier won the National Award for the 1997 Telugu film ‘Annamayya’. In fact, the music director already had hits like ‘Manasu Mamatha’ (1990) and ‘Kshana Kshanam’ (1991) before Rahman came up roses in 1992, with ‘Roja’. However, Keeravani took time to make it on the national scene, being selective with Hindi films. When the Telugu film ‘Criminal’ was dubbed in Hindi in 1995, he had a big hit in ‘Tum Mile Dil Khile’. Credited as MM Kreem in Hindi cinema, he went on to compose music for ‘Is Raat Ki Subah Nahin’, ‘Sur: The Melody Of Life’, ‘Jism’ and ‘Paheli’, among others. Keeravani worked in a few Tamil films under the name Maragadha Mani, but continued to focus on Telugu films, his popular scores being ‘Subha Sankalpam’, ‘Pelli Sandadi’, ‘Annamayya’ and ‘Magadheera’. His work in Rajamouli films yielded some fantastic results, right from ‘Student No. 1’ in 2001, to the two-part ‘Baahubali’ in 2015 and 2017.
‘RRR’ has taken the team to another level. Hindi, Kannada and Malayalam versions of the song have been released. In Hindi, it’s called ‘Naacho Naacho’ and has been sung by Vishal Mishra and Rahul Sipligunj, with lyrics by Riya Mukherjee. Right now, of course, the world doesn’t recognise ‘Naacho Naacho’ or the Tamil ‘Naattu Koothu’ or Kannada ‘Haali Naatu’. However, in the West, it’s ‘Naatu Naatu’ they are dancing to.
