The ‘underdog’ wins against Rihanna, Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga: ‘Variety

Los Angeles: The Indian hit turned global phenomenon ‘RRR’ went one for two at the Golden Globes on Tuesday night (Wednesday early morning), missing out on best non-English-language picture to ‘Argentina, 1985’ but triumphing for best original song with the viral sensation ‘Naatu Naatu’, writes ‘Variety’.

The song entered the race as an underdog, with music superstars Rihanna, Taylor Swift and Lady Gaga and director-songwriter Guillermo del Toro also competing in the category. But awards interest in ‘RRR’ has picked up in recent weeks as the crowd-pleasing action-drama-musical has transcended cult status to earn serious attention, ‘Variety’ notes.

The song’s Globes win increases anticipation that ‘Naatu’ will become the rare song by Indian composers to get an Oscar nomination later this month; it already made the Academy’s 15-song shortlist, the Hollywood bible points out.

The night before the Globes, Rajamouli, music composer M. M. Keeravani (popular among Hindi filmgoers as M. M. Kreem) and the film’s two leading men, Ram Charan and N.T. Rama Rao Jr., convened in America for the first time at a raucous screening at LA’s iconic TCL Chinese Theatre, sponsored by the American Cinematheque and Beyond Fest.

The screening had sold out in just over 90 seconds, and the audience whooped and screamed throughout the three-hour-plus film, with dozens taking to the floor in front of the Chinese’s IMAX screen for a ‘Naatu Naatu’ dance-a-thon, ‘Variety’ reports, before finally settling down for a nearly hour-long Q&A with the four guests.

‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ maker J.J. Abrams was a surprise guest introducing the Chinese screening. In his introduction, he called ‘RRR’ “a film I love and a filmmaker I so admire. … I love its exuberance. I love its friendship. I love its heart. I love what it says about fighting for what’s right. I love the music.

“I love the insanity. The fever-dream madness of this movie is more fun than you’ll have in a theatre — (more) than I can imagine having in any other film.”

–IANS