India’s Naatu Naatu and The Elephant Whisperers have created history at Oscars as they became the first-ever song and short documentary respectively from the country to win at the 95th Academy Awards.
Kartiki Gonsalves’ documentary was competing against Stranger at the Gate and How do you Measure a Year?
The 41-minute documentary tells the story of a couple named Bomman and Bellie as they care for an orphaned baby elephant.
“I stand here today to speak of the sacred bond between us and our natural world, for the respect of indigenous communities and empathy towards other living beings we share space with, and finally, coexistence,” said Gonsalves after receiving the award.
Naatu-Naatu – the popular hit song from the 2022 Telugu film RRR – was the first-ever song from the country to win the Academy Award.
With music by composer M.M. Keeravani and lyrics by Chandrabose, the win for the Telugu-language song followed an exuberant performance, including the famed “hook dance” steps from the crowd-pleasing film RRR rejigged for the Dolby Theatre stage.
Fresh off her career-spanning Super Bowl halftime performance, Rihanna also performed her nominated song in what was one of the night’s most anticipated moments. The superstar sang Lift Me Up from the sequel Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
It was a soft but impassioned tribute to the late Chadwick Boseman, who starred in the original film before losing a battle with colon cancer.
And Lady Gaga delivered a surprise performance – she wasn’t originally slated to perform – of her nominated song Hold My Hand, which she wrote for the Tom Cruise blockbuster sequel Top Gun: Maverick.
