Alia to Kangana, celebs hail India's rise and roar at the Oscars

The Indian film fraternity, including celebrities Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Alia Bhatt, Hrithik Roshan, and Ajay Devgn, took to social media to celebrate the double Oscar win for India for Telugu blockbuster RRR and Tamil documentary The Elephant Whisperers.

At the 95th Academy Awards, RRR charted history by becoming the first Indian track to win the Oscar for Best Original Song for Naatu Naatu.

The Elephant Whisperers, directed by debutante Kartiki Gonsalves and produced by Guneet Monga, became the maiden Indian production to win in the Documentary Short Subject category.

“Naatu Naatu” choreographer Prem Rakshith told PTI from Los Angeles that the song’s win was a “huge proud moment for India”.

Also read: India roars at OscaRRRs: From ‘Naatu Naatu’ to ‘The Elephant Whisperers’

“We were all sitting together. We shouted like crazy and hugged each other,” he said, describing the euphoric moment when the film’s name was announced.

Priyanka took to her Instagram Stories, giving a huge shout out to the teams of RRR and The Elephant Whisperers. “Yessss team @rrrmovie @mmkeeravani” she wrote alongside a photo from the award ceremony.

Alia Bhatt, who also featured in RRR in a cameo appearance, shared a number of posts on Instagram, celebrating the Telugu blockbuster’s win. In another post, she congratulated The Elephant Whisperers and its producer Guneet Monga. “ufff what a visual! Historic. Congratulations @guneetmonga and the whole team,” she wrote.

Filmmaker Karan Johar called the Oscar win of RRR “historic”. “Historic!!!! OMG!!!!!!! I was jumping on my bed !!!!! So so so proud! @m. m. keeravani sir @ssrajamouli sir @jrntr @alwaysramcharan” he wrote on Instagram Stories. The director said he was proud of the team of The Elephant Whisperers for creating history at the Academy Awards.

“Guneet!!!! @guneetmonga you did it!!!!! So so so proud of you!!!! You created history! Broke the glass ceiling and more than anything else paved the way…applause, Respect and many a salute to you” he posted.

Also read: Oscars 2023: Wins for Ke Huy Quan, Jamie Lee Curtis; ‘RRR’ team dazzles at red carpet

Ajay Devgn, who also made a guest appearance in RRR, called the two trophies for Indian films a “proud moment”. “As it is often said, cinema speaks a universal language. Congratulations to the teams of #RRR and #TheElephantWhisperers for their #Oscar wins. It’s a proud moment,” he tweeted.

As it is often said, cinema speaks a universal language. Congratulations to the teams of #RRR and #TheElephantWhisperers for their #Oscar wins. It’s a proud 🇮🇳 moment 🎈

— Ajay Devgn (@ajaydevgn) March 13, 2023

Hrithik wrote, “Such a historic, proud & happy moment for Indian Cinema at #Oscars95 ! Many congratulations to the team of Best Documentary Short Film #TheElephantWhisperers & Team RRR for Best Original Song #NaatuNaatu !! More power to you all.”

Such a historic, proud & happy moment for Indian Cinema at #Oscars95 ! Many congratulations to the team of Best Documentary Short Film #TheElephantWhisperers & Team RRR for Best Original Song #NaatuNaatu !! More power to you all ♥️

— Hrithik Roshan (@iHrithik) March 13, 2023

“Wonderful!!! Congratulations to all of you #ElephantWhisperers” tweeted actor Kangana Ranaut. The actor also praised RRR for making India proud.

“Congratulations to entire India, RRR, a movie about suppression, torture, killing, colonization of Indians based on racial grounds gets appreciated on a world platform, number of Indians died just during one Bengal famine were way more than Jews died during holocaust. Thank team RRR” she added.

Congratulations to entire India🇮🇳a movie about suppression, torture, killing, colonisation of Indians based on racial grounds gets appreciated on a world platform, number of Indians died just during one Bengal famine were way more than Jews died during holocaust. Thank team RRR🙏 https://t.co/J0L2RFuicH

— Kangana Ranaut (@KanganaTeam) March 13, 2023

Singer Anup Jalota said the song had become famous world over. Congratulations to MM Kreem, the director and the team for beautifully picturising the song, he added.

Also read: Oscars 2023: ‘Naatu Naatu’ performance receives standing ovation

Sound designer Resul Pookutty, who won an Oscar for Best Sound Mixing for 2008 movie Slumdog Millionaire, also congratulated the teams of RRR and The Elephant Whisperers.

“This is a huge win congratulations to @mmkeeravaani and the team of #RRR” he said.

“Huge huge congratulations to @guneetm and the team of #elephantwhispers for their #Oscar win @TheAcademy You all created history. Guneet #IToldYouSo” he added.

Huge huge congratulations to @guneetm and the team of #elephantwhispers for their #Oscar win @TheAcademy You all created history. Guneet #IToldYouSo

— resul pookutty (@resulp) March 13, 2023

Samantha Ruth Prabhu wrote on Instagram, “What an incredible moment… It’s an Oscar baby”. Actor Rana Daggubati shared a video of the moment MM Keeravani and lyricist Chandrabose won the Oscar and wrote, “The roar of #RRR”

RRR (Rise Roar Revolt), a pre-independence fictional story, follows two real-life Indian revolutionaries Alluri Sitarama Raju (Ram Charan) and Komaram Bheem (Jr NTR) in the 1920s.

Yaaaaaaaaas 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 https://t.co/LezYNDOYfC

— Rana Daggubati (@RanaDaggubati) March 13, 2023

Congratulations 🥳 to team #TheElephantwhisperers 💥💥 https://t.co/gtATUGHHYc

— Rana Daggubati (@RanaDaggubati) March 13, 2023

From the moment Naatu Naatu won the best original song award at the 95th Oscars, social media is abuzz with countless posts about RRR and videos from the award ceremony.

Many shared the clips of the electrifying performance of the Telugu track Naatu Naatu by singers Rahul Sipligunj and Kaala Bhairava from the ceremony, held at the Dolby Theatre and livestreamed on streaming platform Disney+ Hotstar in India.

Also read: The Elephant Whisperers bags Oscar for Documentary Short Subject

Others shared various videos of the team of RRR, including filmmaker SS Rajamouli, Ram Charan, and Jr NTR, erupting with joy after Naatu Naatu was announced as the winner for best original song.

The ceremony’s host Jimmy Kimmel, however, attracted criticism from some fans for calling RRR a “Bollywood movie” during his opening monologue.

Reacting to Kimmel’s faux pas, a user tweeted, “India has different film industries for different languages…Bollywood means Hindi language film industry…since Hindi is the most spoken language in India Bollywood is more popular..RRR is a Telugu language film from south part of India”.

Another user said, “Dear #Oscars95 Team, #RRR is not a #Bollywood movie. Please note.”

(With Agency inputs)