The Mastermind behind Naatu Naatu’s victory

The ‘Natu Natu’ song has a special place in the history of world cinema. Many people had questions like “Will Indian cinema win an Oscar?” or “Is a Telugu film going to Oscar?” ‘RRR: Raudram Ranam Rudhiram’ has dispelled such suspicions. The Telugu song ‘Natu Natu’ was a huge success on the international stage, and the live performance received massive appreciation. The song’ Natu Natu’ from the movie ‘RRR’ received a nomination and won the 95th Oscar in the ‘Best Original Song’ category. This is the first Oscar award that came to our country. So far, all the Oscar awards received by Indians have come from Hollywood films. Legendary director Satyajit Ray was given an honorary Oscar. Previously, the song ‘Jayaho’ from the film ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ composed by music director AR Rahman under the direction of Hollywood director Danny Boyle won an Oscar award. But this is not a song in an Indian movie.

Team campaigning for Oscar

It is known that the Indian film Federation kept the SS. Rajamouli’s ‘RRR’ aside and nominated the Gujarati film ‘Chhellow show’ as India’s official entry to the Oscars. Many Indian filmmakers and fans were disappointed over ‘RRR’ not being considered for the year’s Oscar submissions from India. Then the makers applied to the academy for Oscar consideration in the general category, and the RRR team started camping along with Baahubali producer Shobu Yarlagadda. A typical Oscar campaign requires heavy marketing, touring and outreach activities; the producers of the Bahubali series have spent all the Oscar campaign expenses for RRR (Sharat, 2023). Ram Charan, Jr. NTR and director Rajamouli worked hard to promote the movie. The director and the actors participated in several press conferences and special shows. The team interacted with several film critics and filmmakers as a part of the campaign. During this journey, director Rajamouli got an excellent appreciation from the world-class director James Cameron.

Man behind the victory

After reviewing nearly 80 songs, the Oscar committee shortlisted five songs for the Best Original Score category award. Besides ‘Natu Natu’ song, ‘Applause’ from ‘Tell It Like A Woman’, ‘Lift Me Up’ from ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’, ‘This Is A Life’ from ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’, ‘Hold My Hand’ from ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ songs were in the nomination but beyond all these, Telugu’ Natu Natu’ brought Oscar award. It laid the foundation for a new history in world cinema. RRR became the first Indian film to win an Oscar for the country and the first Telugu film (although some Indians and Indo-Americans have won Oscars in the past, they were not Indian films). This is also the first time an award has been received for a song (Natu Natu) from an Asian film (RRR). Also, ‘Natu Natu’ became the fourth non-English song to win an Oscar, and Keeravani and Chandra Bose created a record as the first Telugu people to win an Oscar. Also, Keeravani became the second Indian to win the Oscar award in the Best Original Song category, and Chandra Bose became the second lyricist. It became interesting why Keeravani gave special thanks to Karthikeya while receiving the Oscar award. The producer of Bahubali who is very close to Rajamouli also tweeted, “A very special shoutout to SS Karthikeya, who, from behind the scenes, quietly led an amazing campaign to be here today” (Mirchi9, 2023).

Karthikeya is the son of director Rajamouli and the second unit director of Rajamouli films. Actually, the film RRR from India was not officially selected by the Film Federation of India for an Oscar nomination, and the RRR team was disappointed with that. Karthikeya entered the field, sent the film RRR for Oscar nomination in foreign entry, and sent the song Natu Natu in the Best Original song category.

He took the responsibility of promoting RRR’s movie all over the world without giving up. He adopted marketing strategies to make this film reach the majority of people in America. Karthikeya uses very distinct and innovative marketing techniques. He is a master at generating buzz for the movie by releasing behind-the-scenes videos, teasers, and trailers, as well as spreading the content across other channels. With the success of RRR, Rajamouli and crew may have taken it easier, but Karthikeya is still working continuously. He kept working until he was awarded an Oscar.

Overall, Karthikeya’s perseverance has paid off since the start of the movie. Hence, Karthikeya, who used his marketing effort to advertise the movie on a global scale, is also responsible for the success of RRR in addition to the actors and technical team. Natu Natu won the Golden Globe Award earlier, and Kartikeya intensified his campaign based on this award. After going to the final Oscar nominations, Karthikeya did a lot of work until he pushed back the rest of the songs and won the award. 

Father directs a great movie, and the son plays a vital role in taking that movie to the world level. That’s why Keeravani thanked Karthikeya on the Oscar stage.

References

1. DNA special: Know what RRR song ‘Naatu Naatu’ win at Oscars 2023 means for Indian film industry. (2023, March 14). DNA India. https://www.dnaindia.com/analysis/report-dna-special-know-what-rrr-song-naatu-naatu-win-at-oscars-2023-means-for-indian-film-industry-3029752
2. “Natu Natu” Triumphs at the Oscars: A Landmark Moment for Telugu Cinema. YouSay Telugu – Telugu News, Telugu Movies & Entertainment | తెలుగు వార్తలు. Last modified March 13, 2023. https://telugu.yousay.tv/en/natu-natu-triumphs-at-the-oscars-a-landmark-moment-for-telugu-cinema.html.
3. Oscars 2023: The full list of winners. (2023, March 13). The Daily Beast. https://www.thedailybeast.com/obsessed/oscar-winners-2023-best-actor-actress-picture-and-more-live-list
4. Pandey, N. (2023, March 13). Oscar 2023: ‘RRR’ creates history, ‘Naatu Naatu’ wins an Oscar for best original song. cnbctv18.com. https://www.cnbctv18.com/entertainment/oscar-2023-rrr-creates-history-naatu-naatu-wins-an-oscar-for-best-original-song-16148001.htm
5. Sharat. “‘No One from RRR Team Contacted Me Before Oscars,’ Says Danayya.” TrackTollywood. Last modified March 14, 2023. https://tracktollywood.com/no-one-from-rrr-team-contacted-me-before-oscars-says-danayya/.
6. ‘World dancing to this song’: Chiranjeevi, Chandrababu Naidu on Naatu Naatu’s historic Oscars victory. (2023, March 13). Business Today. https://www.businesstoday.in/trending/entertainment/story/world-dancing-to-this-song-chiranjeevi-chandrababu-naidu-on-naatu-naatus-historic-oscars-victory-373124-2023-03-13