With its Golden Globe win for Best Original Song for the song “Naatu Naatu,” SS Rajamouli’s blockbuster RRR wrote history yet again as another example of Indian music winning plaudits at the world stage. The action drama RRR’s song topped other songs by Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, and Rihanna to win the coveted award.
The Telugu song “Naatu Naatu” is composed by MM Keeravaani and sung by Kala Bhairava and Rahul Sipligunj. In a ceremony held on Tuesday night at the Beverly Hilton, composer Keeravaani collected the award and shared this achievement with the lyricist Chandrabose. Expressing his gratitude to the HFPA for the award, Keeravaani beamed saying, “Thank you very much HFPA for this prestigious award. I’m really happy to share this excitement with my wife, who is sitting right there.”
The song “Naatu Naatu” beat stiff competition from other songs including Rihanna’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever anthem “Lift Me Up,” Lady Gaga’s “Hold My Hand” from Top Gun: Maverick, Taylor Swift’s “Carolina” from Where the Crawdads Sing and “Ciao Papa,” created by Guillermo del Toro, Alexandre Desplat and Roeban Katz, from del Toro’s Pinocchio.
Another fascinating aspect about the catchy song that has the entire world bopping is its filming in front of Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s official residence, according to news agency ANI. A few months prior to the start of the Russian military invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the Mariinsky Palace which is the Ukraine Presidential Palace in Kyiv served as the backdrop for the shooting of the award-winning song.
The movie RRR had received nominations for Best Original Song and Best Picture-Non-English Language at the Globes. Though, it triumphed in the Best Original Song category, it lost the contest for best picture losing out to Santiago Mitre’s historical drama “Argentina, 1985”.
After their win in the Best Original Song category, Rajamouli tweeted, “SPEECHLESS (sic). Music truly knows no boundaries. Congratulations and thank you PEDDANNA for giving me Naatu Naatu. This one is special. I thank each and every fan across the globe for shaking their leg and making it popular ever since its release.” Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated SS Rajamouli, Jr NTR and Ram Charan and the team of RRR after they won the Golden Globes Best Original Song award for Naatu Naatu. He tweeted, “A very special accomplishment! Compliments to MM Keeravani, Prem Rakshith, Kaala Bhairava, Chandrabose, Rahul Sipligunj, Jr NTR, Ram Charan and the entire team of RRR. This prestigious honor has made every Indian very proud.”
The praise for RRR’s significant achievement has been flooding in from all directions. Jay-Ho! The Jay Kumar Show also applauds the RRR team for bringing honor to Indian cinema and raising the profile of Indian music globally.