Not too nutty about Naatu Naatu

I clearly remember the Oscars presentation ceremony from 2009 when A. R. Rahman won two awards, one as the best music director and one for the song “Jai Ho” from the movie “Slumdog Millionaire”.

- BASAB DASGUPTA

As a lifelong fan of Bollywood songs, I felt overjoyed, not only because it was the first time an Indian music director won the coveted award but also because I loved all the songs from that movie. This song even inspired the pop/rock group “The Pussycat Dolls” to release a song “I am your Destiny”, based on the same tune with participation of Rahman in the video.

Fourteen years later, another Indian song, “Naatu Naatu” from the movie “RRR”, composed by M. Keeravani won the Oscar this month as the best original song in a movie. The Indian diaspora in the USA as well as Indians back home have gone crazy with delight and praise of the song. Unfortunately, I do not share the same degree of joy and excitement.

At the risk of making myself immensely unpopular among the readers and perhaps even being labelled as unpatriotic, I will stick my neck out and declare that I am not too fond of this song, especially the associated dance number. There were literally dozens of excellent song/dance routines available from India in 2022 which would have made me happier.

Here are my reasons. First, it is not a Bollywood song performed in Hindi but a song from a movie in the southern part of India sung in the local language, Telugu. It can be mistaken as a typical Bollywood song by a global audience who are not aware of differences in regional languages. Even the host Jimmy Kimmel was criticized for describing it as a Bollywood song.