“The Elephant Whisperers” was named finest quick documentary at Sunday’s night time’s ceremony in a primary for an Indian manufacturing. The documentary, which is streaming on Netflix, follows the story of a pair in southern India who commit themselves to caring for an orphaned elephant and explores the bond between people and animals.

“Congratulations India” trended on Twitter after “Naatu Naatu” by M.M. Keeravani and Chandrabose trumped the likes of Rihanna and Lady Gaga to win finest unique music.

In the southern Indian metropolis of Hyderabad, the place the predominant language is Telugu, followers had been elated over the Telugu music’s world triumph. “It’s an incredible feeling. Finally, a Telugu film did it and we have won an Oscar,” rejoiced Venkata Ramanna, a software program engineer, who described the win as “exhilarating.”

From Indian celebrities and politicians to cricketers and common residents, social media in India was awash with congratulations.

“#NaatuNaatu on top of the world!!!” cheered Chiranjeevi, a outstanding Telugu movie actor and former politician, on Twitter.

“Exceptional! The popularity of ‘Naatu Naatu’ is global,” tweeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

He additionally congratulated the feminine duo behind “The Elephant Whisperers,” director Kartiki Gonsalves and producer Guneet Monga, for highlighting the “significance of sustainable improvement and dwelling in concord with nature.”

Monga tweeted that the award was “historic” for India and for ladies: “To all the women watching….The future is audacious and the future is here,” she wrote.

Licypriya Kangujam, a younger local weather activist in India, known as the documentary win a proud second for each environmentalist.

But the hashtags Naatu Naatu and RRR dominated social media feeds on Monday.

The three-hour maximalist motion epic is one among India’s costliest and top-grossing movies of all time and pairs two of the nation’s largest stars, N.T. Rama Rao Jr. and Ram Charan.

It additionally shortly climbed U.S. box-office charts earlier than it discovered a fair wider viewers on Netflix, the place it ranked among the many prime 10 non-English language movies for weeks. The massively common music additionally received a Golden Globe award in January.

“Naatu Naatu is an emotion across the globe,” Charan posted on Twitter as he congratulated the “RRR” staff. “This award belongs to every Indian actor, technician and filmgoer,” he wrote.

The music was shot in August 2021 in entrance of Ukraine’s Mariinskyvi Palace, the official residence of the president in Kyiv, months earlier than Russia invaded the nation. The crew took 15 days to shoot the music video, which featured round 50 dances and as much as 400 extras.

In an interview with Variety in January, director S.S. Rajamouli stated he wished to discover the film’s anti-colonial themes within the music by way of an motion sequence that noticed the movie’s two primary Indian actors out-dance the British. He stated he wished choreography “that might look nice with two individuals doing it collectively, however not so difficult that no-one may do it.”

The fast-paced dance steps shortly went viral, sparking a TikTook problem the place customers tried to recreate the acrobatic strikes. The catchy tempo grew to become an web sensation, having racked up greater than 122 million views on YouTube.

Backstage on the awards ceremony, Keeravani was emotional concerning the win. “It’s just the beginning of everything,” he stated. “For the world, particularly the Western world, folks are more on India and Asian music. It’s just long due. I feel very happy to open doors and the world to embrace my culture.”

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