MM Keeravani’s ‘Naatu Naatu’ scored a major win at the Golden Globes this year, beating Grammy-winners Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga and Rihanna for the coveted prize. The song from SS Rajamouli’s ‘RRR’ was nominated alongside songs from ‘Where the Crawdads Sing’, Guillermo del Toro’s ‘Pinocchio’, ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ and ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’.
Keeravani, who accepted the award, thanked singers Kala Bhairava and Rahul Sipligunj. He said in his acceptance speech, “This award belongs to, in order of priority, my brother and the director of this movie, SS Rajamouli, for his vision. I thank him for his constant trust in my work and support and Mr Prem Rakshith who animated ‘Naatu Naatu’ song and without him, this wouldn’t have happened. Kala Bhairava who has given wonderful arrangements to the song, Mr. Chanderbose for his wonderful words as a lyricist and Mr Rahul Sipligunj along with Kaala Bhairava who rendered this song with high energy and NT Rama Rao and Ram Charan who danced with full stamina on the song. And last but not the least, Mr Siddharth S and Jeevan Babu who programmed for the song. Lastly, thank you Shrivalli.”
Rajamouli took to Twitter after the event, and wrote, “SPEECHLESS (folded hands emoji) Music truly knows no boundaries. Congratulations and thank you PEDDANNA (big brother) for giving me Naatu Naatu. This one is special. I thank each and every fan across the globe for shaking their leg and making it popular ever since the release (hug emoji)…”
RRR has also won Critics Choice Awards in two categories - Best Foreign Film and Best Song. On Monday, team 'RRR' took to their Twitter account and shared a video in which SS Rajamouli could be seen giving his winning speech at the award ceremony held in Los Angeles in which he said, 'Mera Bharat Mahaan'.
While accepting the honour, SS Rajamouli said in the video, "To all the women in my life, my mother Rajnandani, she thought school education was overrated and she encouraged me to read comics and story books and she encouraged my creativity. My sister-in-law Sreevalli, who became like a mother to me, she always encourages me to be the best version of myself."
The 'Baahubali' director also talked about his wife and his daughters at the award ceremony.
"My wife Rama, she is a costume designer of my films but more than that she is the designer of my life. If she is not there, I am not here today. To my daughters, they don't do anything, just there smile is enough to light my life up," he said.
Rihanna congratulates ‘RRR’ team
Pop singer Rihanna, who was nominated with director Ryan Coogler and composer Ludwig Göransson, was present at the 80th edition of Golden Globes along with boyfriend A$AP Rocky. After the award was announced, she personally congratulated the ‘RRR’ team on their win.
In a now-viral video shared by a pap account on Instagram, the ‘Born Again’ singer was seen walking past the ‘RRR’ table at The Beverly Hilton hotel in Los Angeles. Rihanna turned to Rajamouli and the rest of the team and wished them congratulations with a kiss.
‘RRR’ was also nominated for Best Picture Non-English but lost the category to ‘Argentina, 1985’.
Jr NTR was recently heavily critiqued by netizens for changing his accent while speaking at the Golden Globes. Reacting to this, Pridhee Kapoor Gupta, Founder & CEO of an interactive Indian language learning platform said that this trend is not only seen among Indians but has become a global phenomenon. "It is just that it is highlighted more when it comes from people of colour because of the underlying linguistic discrimination. Code-switching, as we call it, which mostly happens at a subconscious level first, is to do with the need to adapt and communicate on a level where others would easily understand us. In its simplest form, people also do it to appear more professional and advanced in a formal environment," she told Asian Voice.