Ram Charan and Deepika Padukone at Oscars 2023
Ram Charan and Deepika Padukone at Oscars 2023

Oscars 2023: Nominated for three, India wins two at the Oscars!

We missed a hat-trick win, but walked away with two prestigious awards at the 95th Oscars, earlier today

If you woke up early to catch the 95th edition of the Oscars or didn’t sleep all night with all the excitement, much like us at Indulge, then you've surely got full paisa vasool for your extra efforts! We were nominated for Best Documentary (All That Breathes), Best Documentary Short (The Elephant Whisperers), and Best Original Song (Naatu Naatu from RRR), and we won the latter two and how!

The celebrations began when Deepika Padukone came on stage to introduce Naatu Naatu as a nomination for Best Original Song, looking resplendent in a black gown and making quite a few puns about the song that were all well-received. The performance on the stage, which didn’t feature the original Telugu stars Ram Charan and Junior NTR (much to our disappointment in India), received a standing ovation and was cheered right through. What a performance it was!

 

<strong>Deepika Padukone at the Oscars</strong>
Deepika Padukone at the Oscars

Like that high wasn’t enough, in a few minutes, the nominations for Best Documentary Short were announced; and while a lot of us expected a win for India, it was no less a surprise when The Elephant Whisperers was finally called out as the winner! Directed by Kartiki Gonsalves and produced by Guneet Monga — who incidentally won her second Oscar with this (her previous one in 2019 for the documentary Period. End of Sentence in Documentary Short Subject) — the documentary is already streaming on Netflix and was a strong contender all through.

We had to wait for over half an hour for the nominations for Best Original Song to be announced and when that moment came, we think the whole of India held their breath till we were announced as the winners. Naatu Naatu, composed by MM Keeravaani and with lyrics by Chandrabose, had the latter take the mike to say he grew up listening to The Carpenters and then made the acceptance speech by singing an adorable personal ditty as an homage to The Carpenters’ 1972 hit Top of the World.

While All That Breathes lost to Daniel Roher’s Navalny for Best Documentary, it is still a winner to all of us back home. And Shaunak Sen, we’re sure you’ll make us proud next time.

With a double whammy like today’s, we’re not sure we’re getting much sleep, but who’s complaining? As we all dance and hum to the insanely addictive tune of Naatu Naatu (as we ought to be doing), here’s echoing Best Actress winner Michelle Yeoh’s statement: Dream Big! Here’s to all you creative artistes that bring honour to the country's name, internationally! We’re super proud of you!

Email: romal@newindianexpress.com
Twitter: @elromal

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