Hollywood does the Naatu Naatu’ dance as RRR bags Golden Globe for best original song

Naatu Naatu, a peppy four-and-a-half-minute dance number from the Telugu blockbuster RRR, waltzed into the record books on Wednesday when it became the first song from India to win a Golden Globe for Best Original Song.

Naatu Naatu, a peppy four-and-a-half-minute dance number from the Telugu blockbuster RRR, waltzed into the record books on Wednesday when it became the first song from India to win a Golden Globe for Best Original Song.

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At a glittering ceremony in Los Angeles, music director MM Keeravani’s creation beat out nominees sung by superstars such as Lady Gaga, Rihanna and Taylor Swift to win the Golden Globe, which opens the awards season in Hollywood that ends with the Academy Awards in March.

The track — composed by Keeravaani and written by Chandrabose — was sung by singers Kala Bhairava and Rahul Sipligunj. Dressed in black, Keeravani accepted the award in person and thanked director SS Rajamouli for his vision.

“This award belongs to, in order of priority, my brother and the director of the movie, SS Rajamouli for his vision. I thank him for this constant trust in my work and support,” the veteran composer, who is also credited as MM Kreem and Maragathamani in Hindi and Tamil cinema, respectively.

Celebrations in India were led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and AR Rahman, who was the last Indian music composer to win the Golden Globe, for his score in Slumdog Millionaire. “This prestigious honour has made every Indian very proud,” Modi said. “It’s a paradigm shift,” Rahman said.

RRR was also nominated in the Best Picture-Non-English category but lost out to the historical drama Argentina, 1985. The big-budget period film weaves a pre-Independence fictional story around two real-life revolutionaries — Alluri Sitarama Raju (Ram Charan) and Komaram Bheem (Jr NTR) — in the 1920s. Naatu Naatu is also on the Oscars shortlist, alongside 14 other songs.