The song Naatu Naatu from SS Rajamouli’s RRR has been selected as the first Indian film to win the Oscar for Best Original Song at the 95th Academy Awards ceremony. Music composer MM Keeravani, lyricist Chandra Bose received the award together. Naatu Naatu playback singers Rahul Sipligunj and Kala Bhairav performed the song at the Academy Awards ceremony at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles, USA, which received a standing ovation from the audience.
Deepika Padukone announced her singing performance at the ceremony. Nominated. The film was inspired by freedom fighters Komaram Bheem and Alluri Sitarama Raju. Choreography of this song was done by Prem Rakshith. RRR is the first Indian film in the last two decades to be nominated for an Academy Award while Naatu Naatu is the first Indian song to be nominated for an Oscar.
Indian short film The Elephant Whispers has won the Oscar in the Best Short Film category at the Academy Awards. The 41-minute short film by filmmaker Kartiki Gonsalves and producer Guneet Monga depicts the relationship between orphaned baby elephant Raghu and his caretaker. There were four other nominated films in the short film category – Halot, Maratha Mitchell Effect, Stranger at the Gate and How Do You Measure a Year? The Elephant Whispers is the first Indian film to receive an Oscar in this category.
The Elephant Whispers is the third film to be nominated after The House That Ananda Built in 1969 and An Encounter with Faces in 1979. In 2008, the song Jai Ho, composed by AR Rahman and written by lyricist Gulzar, from the British film Slumdog Millionaire became the first Hindi song to win an Academy Award in the Best Original Score and Original Song categories.