India at Oscars 2023: 'RRR', 'All That Breathes', 'Elephant Whisperers' earn nominations

"Naatu Naatu", the hit dance track from SS Rajamouli’s blockbuster "RRR", on Tuesday continued its winning march by earning a coveted nomination for the Original Song at the Oscars 2023 where Indian documentaries "All That Breathes" and "Elephant Whisperers" walked away with nods in Documentary Feature and Documentary Short categories.

"The Last Show", India's official entry in the International Feature category, however, failed to make the cut in the final five. But there was much to celebrate as it is perhaps for the first time that three films from the country are competing in different segments.

"Naatu Naatu" will compete with "Applause" from from “Tell It Like a Woman”, "Hold My Hand" from “Top Gun: Maverick”, "Lift Me Up" from “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” and "This Is a Life" from “Everything Everywhere All at Once”.

The song, filmed on Ram Charan and Jr NTR, translates to bucolic in Telugu and demonstrates the spirit of fun in country music over 4.35 breathless minutes of song and dance.

Composed by MM Keeravani and choreographed by Prem Rakshith, it has legions of followers on social media trying to master its steps.

"WE CREATED HISTORY!! Proud and privileged to share that #NaatuNaatu has been nominated for Best Original song at the 95th Academy Awards," the film’s official Twitter handle posted.

Keeravani shared his excitement over the nomination on Twitter.

“Congratulations to my team !! Big hugs to all,” he tweeted.

Rahman said it was surprising that it had taken so much time for Indian films to register nominations at the Oscars.

"I thought it would start ten years back, it’s 12 years late. This should happen every year from India because India is a country of 1.3 billion people... Most of the movies are not even entered. At least, they (makers of RRR) had the thing to put it there and Golden Globes... and they did little promotion and that's how it works," the composer said at a song launch event.

The nominations for 23 categories of the 95th Academy Awards were announced by Hollywood actors Riz Ahmed and Allison Williams here.

The Oscar ceremony will be held on March 12, 2023, at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood.