RRR song ‘Naatu Naatu’ wins at Golden Globes: All about the song and those behind it

Directed by S S Rajamouli, who earlier made the Baahubali films which started the pan-Indian movie trend, RRR is an action drama of epic proportions. Set in 1920, it tells a fictionalised story of two real-life Indian revolutionaries, Alluri Sitharama Raju (Ram Charan) and Komaram Bheem (Jr NTR). Even though the two never actually met, the film is centred around their friendship and how they overcome the odds during the freedom struggle.

‘Naatu Naatu’ comes at a pivotal point in the film: the two heroes are at a party hosted by the British elite and decide to show the British what ‘real dancing’ is all about. It is an assertion of their pride as Indians, and as some white people at the party enthusiastically take to the song, it is also an indication of how the tide is turning against the strictly enforced sense of superiority that the British had enforced on their colonial subjects.

What is RRR about?

According to Rajamouli, the idea for RRR came to him when he read about the lives of Sitharama Raju (who fought against the British Raj) and Bheem (who fought against the Nizam of Hyderabad).

“When I read about Alluri Sitharama Raju and Komaram Bheem, it was exciting to know that their story is similar. They never met each other. What if they had met? What if they had got inspired by each other? That is what RRR is about. It is completely fictitious. The film is mounted on a very large scale. We had to do a lot of research for it. To know costumes, their dialect, their way of living and that is why it took so much time for us to get this together,” he said at a 2019 press meet.

Similarities included the fact that both the Telugu revolutionaries led tribal people, though Bheem was a tribal man himself, belonging to the Gond community, while Raju was not. Both also died young, but not before aiding the struggle against colonialism. Rajamoili added, “RRR is about the legends but before they become legends”.

Actor Jr NTR said, “The impact is that India will know about Telugu heroes – Alluri Sitharama Raju and Komaram Bheem”. He added, “Now, we are just imagining the possibilities of them meeting each other at some point.”

Congratulations Sirji on your well-deserved #GoldenGlobes award!

I’ve danced to many songs throughout my career but #NaatuNaatu will forever stay close to my heart… @mmkeeravaani pic.twitter.com/A3Z0iowq8L

— Jr NTR (@tarak9999) January 11, 2023

Rajamouli further said that the script for the film was inspired by The Motorcycle Diaries (2004), the biopic of Argentine Marxist revolutionary leader Che Guevara, which is set in the period before he became famous. “The idea was mine. I saw The Motorcycle Diaries. In the end, they reveal that the character in the film is not some guy but Che Guevara. That idea stuck with me. I also got fascinated with the idea that what if we narrate the entire story and reveal at the end who the two actually become in the future. The thought was planted by the film,” Rajamouli said.

What’s so special about ‘Naatu Naatu’?

‘Naatu Naatu’ is easily one of the tunes that defined 2022, globally. Its choreography went viral on various social media platforms, as people across the world tried to emulate the steps and energy of the original. Particularly, its virality on TikTok is considered a major reason for the film’s success in the American market.

“I did not guess there would be this kind of response for this song, even in my dreams,” its composer Keeravani told Variety. “But as a paradoxical statement, it’s a dream coming true.” It has been reported that he wrote 20 different songs for Rajamouli to choose from, just for the dance-off sequence.

Keeravani added, “The ‘Naatu Naatu’ song has to make you forget everything — and not just the viewer who is watching the movie, but the characters from the story, too, need to forget every other thing happening around them and pay their full attention towards the song. And the coda, the end part of the song, consists of so much stamina, you cannot call it merely a song — it is an action sequence.”

After winning the Golden Globe, the song’s lyricist Chandrabose told ANI, “It’s a big deal for me… I wrote 90% of the song within half a day and the rest 10% took 1.7 years. My effort, hard work and patience have paid off.”

Earlier, Keeravani had described the song as something that tests “the endurance and stamina” of the dancers. Jr NTR similarly joked about how Rajamouli had ‘tortured’ the dancers for days. “We shot that song for 12 days, and this man would torture us from 8-8, we would sleep at 11:30, and wake up at 5:30. This happened after 7 days of rehearsals. He was so hell-bent on synchronisation, watching on the monitor if the legs and hands went together, and I was like ‘Jesus, why are you doing this?’” he said.

Who are the people behind the song?

The song is composed by Keeravani, who went onstage to receive the Golden Globe. He is the cousin of director Rajamouli, and also composed songs for the Baahubali series. Keeravani has composed songs across Indian languages, and has previously won a National Award for the same. His Hindi compositions include ‘Tum mile dil khile’ (Criminal, 1995) and ‘Gali mein aaj chand nikla’ in Mahesh Bhatt’s Zakhm (1998).

Those speaking Tamil and Malayalam may know him as Margatha Mani, the name under which he is credited in the two industries.

His son Kaala Bhairava is one of the two singers of ‘Naatu Naatu’, along with Rahul Siplingunj. Bhairava has sung for Telugu films such as Baahubali, Dear Comrade (2019) and Jersey (2019). Sipligunj started as an independent singer before he was noticed by Keeravani, and he went on to sing for films like Dammu, Eega and Maryada Ramanna. He has singing credits in over 50 films to date.

Director Rajamouli is also seeing global success, after receiving widespread recognition across India in the last few years. His Baahubali films have also been popular in Japan, as mentioned by the RRR cast often during their red-carpet interviews. He has been signed by the American talent agency Creative Artists Agency (CAA), which manages Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg and Zendaya among others, indicating an interest in actively working in Hollywood.

Before ‘Naatu Naatu’: AR Rahman, ‘Jai Ho’ and Lagaan

Excitement over the recognition of Indian films coming from Western academies is not new. Similar hopes were held when the Bollywood film Lagaan was nominated for an Oscar award for Best International Feature Film in 2002.

AR Rahman then became the first Indian to win two Oscars in 2009, for the Best Original Score of Slumdog Millionaire and its foot-tapping song ‘Jai Ho’, sung by Sukhwinder Singh and Mahalaxmi Iyer. Before the Oscar, Rahman won a Golden Globe for Best Score and a British Academy Film Award or BAFTA. These ceremonies are followed by the Oscar, and a win here is seen as boosting chances of an Oscar win — for which ‘Naatu Naatu’ is shortlisted.

Nominations for the Academy Awards are yet to close, which means that voters still have the chance to watch the film before finalising their ballots. The nominations will be announced later this month, on January 24.