American publication ‘USA Today’ has shortlisted Tollywood star and ‘RRR’ lead actor Jr NTR as one of the frontrunners for the Best Actor Award at Oscar 2023.
Hyderabad: American publication ‘USA Today’ has shortlisted Tollywood star and ‘RRR’ lead actor Jr NTR as one of the frontrunners for the Best Actor Award at Oscar 2023. The official nominations for this years Academy Awards will be announced on January 24. Jr NTR has been in the global limelight after SS Rajamouli’s RRR has won the Golden Globe and Critics Choice awards for ‘Naatu Naatu’ in the Best Original Song category.
RRR is a fictional story based on the lives of two Telugu freedom fighters, Alluri Seetharama Raju and Komaram Bheem. Ram Charan and Jr NTR played lead roles, respectively. The film collected over Rs 1200 crore worldwide. Alia Bhatt, Ajay Devgn and Shriya Saran also starred in the film.
The official Oscar nominations will be announced January 24, 2023 with the ceremony on March 12, 2023 at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.
On the work front, NTR Jr will begin shooting for his upcoming 30th and as-yet-untitled film, now only known as NTR30, directed by Koratala Siva of ‘Janatha Garage’ fame. The film will hit the cinemas on April 5, 2024. The actor also has NTR31 on the cards which will be helmed by ‘KGF’ director Prashanth Neel.
Golden Globe perfect wedding anniversary gift: RRR choreographer
Meanwwhile according to another report, One of the main reasons why the song Naatu Naatu song from RRR which won music composer MM Keeravani the Golden Globe for ‘Best Original Song’ transcended boundaries and bagged global acclaim, was choreographer Prem Rakshit’s brilliant dance moves.
By now, there’s hardly any film buff in the world who doesn’t know about the song. Shot on two superstars – Ram Charan and Jr NTR – who are fabulous dancers, Prem’s choreography made the song a visual feast.
Prem was on the sets of his upcoming film Dasara when the news broke that Naatu Naatu had won Golden Globe.
“I got the message on my mobile phone. I did not understand it initially. As I kept re-reading the message there was a flurry of congratulatory messages about the award. It was so overwhelming,” says Prem, thanking Rajamouli for giving him the opportunity.
Emotional moment
“I got emotional. I didn’t even know how to react because I never expected such a huge award for our country. I was speechless. I didn’t know what was happening around; I broke down and I took a small break from work,” shares Prem.
Rajamouli had asked Prem to join the RRR team for the Oscars campaign and other award ceremonies, but the choreographer couldn’t make it as he had prior commitments apart from visa issues.
When the song won the Golden Globe, Rama (Rajamouli’s wife) called Prem and expressed happiness. “She immediately gave the phone to Rajamouli Sir. The moment I heard his voice expressing delight I became teary-eyed. Rajamouli Sir is my guru. Both he and Rama garu always prayed for my success,” reveals Prem, who is glad that he had lived up to their expectations.
Prem says films are a collaborative effort. “Keeravani Sir’s beautiful renditions coupled with Chandrabose garu’s goosebump-raising lyrics perfectly fit in with Rajamouli Sir’s vision. And of course, Charan anna and Tarak anna made the song a visual feast,” he adds.
According to Prem, the most challenging part of the song was to come up with unique dance moves that would be a blend of two different styles. He had to portray Charan and Tarak (Jr NTR) as equally energetic but in their own styles because one could not look less complex than the other.
“Both of them have their own styles so bringing the two styles together and putting them into one unique form was quite a task,” he says, adding that it took multiple rehearsals and retakes to bring the song to where it stands now.
Perfect anniversary gift
But what makes the Naatu Naatu song so special? Prem believes that the energetic number was not a forced inclusion, but was seamlessly woven into the narrative.
It was shot and rehearsed for 20 days with 500 background artistes from Ukraine, and Prem says composing dance moves for the peppy number was a memorable experience. He remembers that Rajamouli, Ram Charan and Jr NTR kept asking him what more could be done to better the song despite rehearsing for several hours. “Such is their passion for cinema and that’s what drove me to strive for excellence,” he shares.
“It is everything,” was Prem’s succinct reply when we asked him what this award meant to him. “It was a perfect wedding anniversary gift. I couldn’t have given my wife a better gift. January 20th is my 15th marriage anniversary, and I dedicate the award to my wife who supported me a lot along with my parents,” beams the choreographer.
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