Naatu Naatu everywhere, all at once

The signs appeared much before Naatu Naatu won the Oscar for Best Original Song on Monday. The first reference came roughly 14 minutes into the ceremony when third-time host Jimmy Kimmel issued a friendly warning to all winners in his opening monologue: “We want your speeches to be moving, but we also want to keep it moving. So if the speech goes on for too long, this time we are not going to play you off-stage, instead we have a group of performers from the movie RRR who are going to dance you off-stage…”
Then, as he continued announcing the names of the first set of presenters, a team of Naatu Naatu dancers danced Kimmel off the stage.The act was met with thunderous applause, as was the performance of the song later in the evening. Actor Deepika Padukone introduced Naatu Naatu to the audience from the stage, describing it as a “global sensation” and a “banger”. The audience cheered and shrieked when she teased: “Do you know Naatu? Because if you don’t, you are about to. . . ”
The song’s original singers, Rahul Sipligunj and Kaala Bhairava, brought Naatu Naatu to life along with a troupe of over 20 Hollywood dancers, including American performer and artist Lauren Gottlieb. As in the film, the dance was performed against the backdrop of Kyiv’s Mariinsky Palace – the official residence of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Raw And Earthy Number
Many months before RRR’s Oscars triumph, director SS Rajamouli had a clear brief for lyricist Kanukuntla Subhash Chandrabose: “It has to be a rawand earthy song”.
Chandrabose, an electrical and electronics engineering graduate from JNTU, Hyderabad, grew up in Challagarige village in Telangana’s Jayashankar Bhupalpally (earlier Warangal) district, and knew exactly what raw and earthy meant. He hit upon the idea of using the word naatu – which means rustic in Telugu – in the song, and the rest is history.
The 52-year-old has written more than 3,500 songs in his 28-year-old career, but Naatu Naatu crystallised slowly in a 19-month collaboration with music director Koduru Marakathamani Keeravani, a perfectionist. A filmdirector told TOI Keeravani does not stop working on a song until he’s fully satisfied. “He makes no compromises. He also does not give in to suggestions when he is absolutely sure about the music that he creates. ”
The effort paid off when Chandrabose clasped the Oscar in his hand, sharing the stage and honours with Keeravani, who is better known as MM Kreem in Bollywood, and Maragathamani in Tamil film circles.
Wife’s Prophecy Fulfilled
Before the big win, Chandrabose was tense. His daughter Amrutha had called him before the ceremony. “He said he was tense and that he was switching off the phone as he did not want to speak to anyone,” she told TOI.
But ultimately his wife Suchitra’s prophecy came true. At the start of the year, she had written him a letter. “I wrote in it that he would win the Oscar. I also signed the letter,” Suchitra said. “I saw him continuously work on the song for 19 months. His hard work has paid off,” Amrutha added. The family will dedicate the Oscar to Chandrabose’s father and his late mother.