Beverly Hills - “Naatu Naatu” the RRR song from the global crossover hit film became the first number from a fully homegrown Indian film to get nominated for a best original song Oscar Tuesday morning.
All That Breathes is nominated for Best Documentary Feature Film and The Elephant Whisperers is competing for Best Documentary Short Film are the other Indian movies with an Oscar nomination this year.
The infectiousness of the large-scale production number made it to the final five going into this week’s Academy Awards nominations, after it earlier made the music branch’s shortlist of 15 eligible numbers.
The number earned a further boost in visibility when it won the best song award Golden Globe with M.M. Keeravani — the composer of the film’s score, and co-writer of its many songs — coming over from India to accept the trophy.
It will be up against heavyweights Lady Gaga and Rihanna, whose songs are nominated in the same Oscars category.
“RRR” was not in the running for best international film, due to India not submitting the film as its official pick for the category. The film won best foreign language film and Naatu Naatu won best song at the 28th edition of the Critics' Choice Awards in Los Angeles.
Hosts Riz Ahmed and Allison Williams announced the news at the nominations presentation in Beverly Hills on Tuesday. This year's ceremony will be held in Los Angeles on 12 March.
The last time an Indian won an Oscar for a film's music came in 2009, when composer AR Rahman won best original song and best original score for the song Jai Ho from the film Slumdog Millionaire, directed by Briton Danny Boyle.
The strange and sentimental film “Everything Everywhere All at Once” led among the films nominated for the 95th Academy Awards on Tuesday, scoring 11 nominations. “All Quiet on the Western Front” and “The Banshees of Inisherin” followed with nine nominations each.
Blockbusters “Top Gun: Maverick” and “Avatar: The Way of Water” each landed nominations for best film, and there is plenty of star power among the nominees.
The Academy Awards are set to take place on Sunday, March 12.