#TrendsIMO – Why ‘Naatu Naatu’ Would Mean a Real ‘Jai Ho’ at the Oscars for Indians

First of all, I’m not going to slam/trash/downplay the historic importance of “Jai Ho” from Slumdog Millionaire winning the Best Original Song at the Oscars. However, I do think it’s important to realize that at the 81^st Academy Awards in 2008, there were only three nominees for the award, of which A. R. Rahman was nominated for two of the three. Besides winning for “Jai Ho” alongside Gulzar (for his lyrics), he was nominated with M.I.A. for “O…Saya.” The third nominee in the category was from the Pixar release WALL-E titled “Down To Earth” by Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman.

This year, RRR and its nominated song “Naatu Naatu” face much stiffer competition. Music director M.M. Keeravani and lyricist Chandrabose are up against Rihanna’s “Lift Me Up” from Wakanda Forever and Lady Gaga’s “Hold My Hand” from Top Gun: Maverick. Also in the mix are “This Is A Life” from the most nominated film of the year, Everything Everywhere All At Once, and “Applause” from Tell It Like A Woman, with music and lyrics by 14-time Oscar nominee Diane Warren. Warren actually received an Academy Honorary Award at the Governors Awards in 2022. She’s received a nod every year for the past 6 years but has yet to win a real Academy Award. Sadly, it seems unlikely her losing streak in the category will end this year.

While there is great love for Everything Everywhere All At Once, it’s unlikely the film will take home this prize. Ditto for “Holy My Hand” as Lady Gaga previously already won an Oscar just a few years back for “Shallow” from her film A Star Is Born. So that then leaves RRR and probably one of the biggest pop stars on the planet, Rihanna, vying for the Oscar gold.

Rihanna is definitely the traditional favorite for the category. She’s an established hitmaker, and came back from a long musical break with a ballad that actually charted well and was used effectively in a blockbuster film. Add to that the fact that the single was co-written by the film’s director Ryan Coogler, Nigerian star Tems and acclaimed producer and music composer Ludwig Goransson (an Oscar winner already for Best Original Score for the first Black Panther film), and the song has everything needed to be the winner. And did I mention Rihanna just made history with her halftime Super Bowl performance?

Of course, despite all this, the frontrunner for the category and the likely winner this Sunday at the Oscars will be “Naatu Naatu.” Despite incredible hype and getting featured on many year-end Top 10 lists and even winning many critic awards, RRR didn’t land any other nominations at the Academy Awards besides the Best Original Song category. In many ways, a win for the song is a win for the movie and a way for the Academy to applaud the film many thought deserved nods in the Best Picture and Best Director categories.

“Naatu Naatu” would be the second Indian language song to win the Oscar for Best Original Song after “Jai Ho.” While that song was recorded with a combination of Hindi, Urdu and Punjabi (and a bit of Spanish), “Naatu Naatu” was recorded in Telugu (though different Indian language versions exist in Hindi, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam). The song would become the first song ever to win an Oscar in Telugu. In many ways, it would also be the first time a truly Indian song from a completely Indian-financed and backed film won an Oscar too.

Slumdog Millionaire, despite its subject matter and artists involved, was a British-produced drama and it was primarily performed in English. The song appears at the tail end of the film, as a sort of ode to Bollywood as stated by director Danny Boyle. While the song became the theme of the film, the track’s placement didn’t really add importance to the film’s main storyline.

The same cannot be said about “Naatu Naatu,” which is one of the highlights of the film. In fact, there is a reason the song went viral – it’s not just the dance steps but the camaraderie the song showcases between the two leads in the film that really got people around the world rooting for the song. Indian films have always found a way to incorporate music into the story’s narrative and “Naatu Naatu” was a valuable reminder that this winning formula can still work like nothing else. The legacy of “Jai Ho” became more about its historic win and of course its patriotic lyrics have made it a staple for desi pride. For RRR and “Naatu Naatu,” the song will likely prove once and for all that no pandering or Western influence is required to succeed at garnering attention, applause and appreciation by them. For, the reality is, “Naatu Naatu” is truly India at its best because it is just being itself – and at the end of the day, there is nothing greater to cheer “Jai Ho” for than that truth.