RRR composer MM Keeravani reacts to Naatu Naatu's Oscar nomination: ‘This song is my son; it means the world’

MM Keeravani has spoken about RRR song Naatu Naatu after it bagged an Oscar nomination on Tuesday. He said he was ‘very proud to be nominated for the first time’ from south Asia in this category.

MM Keeravani-composed song Naatu Naatu from SS Rajamouli’s magnum opus RRR has entered the Oscars race in the Best Original Song category, it was announced on Tuesday. Reacting to the Oscar nomination, Keeravani said that the song is like his infant son, who has become big and is now going places to bag a good name for him.

SS Rajamouli and MM Keeravani at the Golden Globes afterparty in Los Angeles, earlier this month.

Naatu Naatu has become an international phenomenon. In all the recent screenings of RRR in the west, the song got the audiences hooting and dancing. Over the months, several videos of western audiences seen dancing in the theatre to the song has surfaced on social media.

Talking about the Oscar nomination for Naatu Naatu to Deadline, Keeravani said, “It feels great. My feelings about the Oscars is the best, because it involves the dreams of artists from all over the world; which is not a joke. It takes a great deal of effort and credibility. That’s why the Oscars is the Oscars. That’s why we respect and value it very much. And I’m very proud to be nominated for the first time from [South] Asia in this music category. I’m thrilled.”

Released last March in cinemas, RRR is a fictional story set in the 1920s pre-independent era and is based on the lives of two real heroes and well-known revolutionaries – Alluri Sitarama Raju and Komaram Bheem. While Ram Charan played Ram, Tarak was seen as Bheem.

The film grossed over ₹1000 crore during its theatrical run. Over the last few months, the west has celebrated the film in a big way since it dropped on Netflix and was re-released in select cities as part of the Beyond Fest.