India Celebrates ‘RRR’ Victory, But Jimmy Kimmel Narrates Film Origin Wrong – The Hollywood Reporter
India’s legions of film fans are in ecstasy after director SS Rajamouli’s epic $$$$ It made history at Sunday night’s Academy Awards by becoming the first ever Indian film to win an Academy Award. In a widely anticipated win, composer MM Keeravaani scored the statuette in the Best Original Song category for $$$$The crowd-pleasing number “Natto-Nato”.
The star of the film, actor Ram Charan, made a statement soon after $$$$Highlights of the Oscars: “This award belongs to every Indian actor, artist and film pioneer. My sincere thanks to all the fans around the world for all the love and support. This is a win for our country.”
MM Keeravaani later shared the same sentiments backstage at the Academy Awards, saying, “I feel very fortunate to have this kind of greater recognition in the world for my country, for my culture, for my mother country, for my film industry. I feel like this is just the beginning of it all.” Something, so the rest of the world is focusing more on Indian music, which is long overdue.”
Even India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi joined in on the moment and tweeted: “Exceptional! The popularity of ‘Natu Nattu’ is global. It will be a song that will be remembered for years to come. Congratulations @mmkeeravaani, boselyricist and the entire team on this prestigious honour. India is elated and proud.”
The celebratory moment wasn’t without some awkwardness, thanks to Oscars host Jimmy Kimmel’s cultural flip flop. But the host initially laughed it off a bit $$$$.
Kimmel said, “This year we’re not going to play you off stage, instead we have a cast from the movie $$$$ who will dance you off stage.” Then the dancers who performed “Natto-Natto” in the film swarmed him.
But later in the monologue Kimmel accidentally referenced it $$$$ A “Bollywood movie”, while it is a Telugu-language film made in the southern region of India known as “Tollywood”. Bollywood refers to the traditions of Hindi-language filmmaking centered in Mumbai, formerly known as Bombay. The mixing of two radically different ethnic identities and cultures has caused resentment in India, with many $$$$ Fans took to Twitter to express their disappointment.
Indian actress Deepika Padukone later spiced things up when she appeared as the Oscars host to deliver the nightly performance of ‘Natto Nattu’, where she bluntly stated that $$$$ It is a Telugu film and an Indian production.