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The nominations for the 95th Academy Awards, more popularly known as the Oscars, was announced on Tuesday. India came away with a total of three nominations for Best Original Song (RRR’s “Naatu Naatu”), Best Documentary Feature Film (Shaunak Sen’s All That Breathes), and Best Documentary Short Film (The Elephant Whisperers).
Indian movies were snubbed in at least three categories, where it was hoping to score a nomination — Best International Feature category for The Last Film Show or Chhello Show, Best Picture for RRR, and Best Director for SS Rajamouli (RRR). After months of rigorous campaign abroad, the RRR team was hopeful of bagging nominations in multiple categories, and had even shared how it had submitted the film for consideration in major categories like Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor (for NTR Jr and Ram Charan).
The snub might be a little surprising, especially after RRR won two Critics Choice Awards (Best Song and Best International Film), and one Golden Globe earlier this month in the Best Original Song category for MM Keeravani composed dance track “Naatu Naatu”. RRR was also nominated in the Best Non-English Language Film category at the Golden Globes 2023.
However, the fact that neither RRR nor its director SS Rajamouli were acknowledged at Producers Guild Awards and the Directors Guild Awards this year was an indication of how things might look for the film come January 24. Interestingly, RRR was not picked as India’s official entry for Oscars this year, with Pan Nalin directorial The Last Film Show getting that honour.
After earning a whopping figure of over Rs 1200 crore worldwide, RRR caught the attention of the West post its debut on streaming giant Netflix. Even as the audience lapped up the larger-than-life spectacle of Rajamouli’s film, famous Hollywood personalities also joined the RRR fan club post watching it on the OTT. This ultimately resulted in a months-long Oscar campaign where the film was screened for the audience in the US, with director Rajamouli in attendance.
For now, India’s best chance at actually winning the Oscar stands with Shaunak Sen’s docu film All That Breathes, which previously bagged the top documentary awards at prestigious film festivals like Sundance and Cannes. The movie follows two Muslim brothers, who live in Delhi, and help nurture and save injured birds, especially black kites. Last year, Writing with Fire was nominated in the Best Documentary Feature category. So far, India has seen Oscar success when Bhanu Athiya won the Best Costume Design award for her work in Richard Attenborough’s Gandhi. Music composer AR Rahman, lyricist Gulzar and sound designer Resul Pookutty had won the Oscar for their work in the 2008 Danny Boyle directorial Slumdog Millionaire. Indian filmmaker Satyajit Ray had been conferred with an honorary Oscar for his brilliant body of work in 1992.
In the Best Original Song category, MM Keeravani-composed “Naatu Naatu” is competing for the coveted golden statuette with “Applause” (Tell It Like a Woman), “Hold My Hand” (Top Gun: Maverick), “Lift Me Up” (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever), and “This Is a Life” (Everything Everywhere All at Once). Whereas, Shaunak Sen’s docu film All That Breathes is in the running for the Oscar with All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, Fire of Love, A House Made of Splinters and Navalny. Meanwhile, Netflix India’s Elephant Whisperers is pitted against Haulout, How Do You Measure a Year?, The Martha Mitchell Effect and Stranger at the Gate.
Hosted by late night show host Jimmy Kimmel, this year’s Oscars will be held at Los Angeles’ Dolby Theatre on March 13 (IST).
Click for more updates and latest Hollywood News along with Bollywood and Entertainment updates. Also get latest news and top headlines from India and around the World at The Indian Express.
