It was a moment of great joy and celebration for Indians on Monday as Naatu Naatu from filmmaker SS Rajamouli’s epic action adventure RRR (2022) bagged the Best Original Song in a historic win at the 95th Academy Awards. Not only has this feat sent the movie-watching Indian audience into a tizzy but also made members from the film fraternity beam with pride. With the Oscar buzz surrounding RRR not seeming to die down anytime soon, News18 exclusively catches up with American actor Edward Sonnenblick, who played a pivotal role in the Ram Charan and Jr NTR starring magnum opus. Named Edward in the film as well, he essayed the main antagonist, a British military operation in-charge, who is on the hunt to catch Bheem.
Speaking about his immediate reaction after Naatu Naatu won the Oscar, he tells us, “Honestly, I got pretty emotional and teared up and all. I wasn’t expecting such strong feelings.” So, did he see it coming? “Frankly, I wasn’t surprised by the win, with the Golden Globes win and everything else leading up to today. But I guess the Oscars really are a big deal and it all just kind of got to me to see India and my colleagues win this one,” says the Veere Di Wedding (2018) and Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi (2019) actor.
Not just the Indian film fraternity but RRR also had stalwarts from Hollywood in awe of it be it Steven Spielberg, James Cameron, Russo Brothers, James Gunn or Daniel Kwan. Happy with the unanimous love and appreciation that his film has received, Edward remarks, “It feels really special. I think it hit me at another level recently when I saw biggies like Steven Spielberg and James Cameron gushing about RRR and how much they love the film. I realised that, ‘Oh my god! These legends whose films I was raised on are heaping love on a film that I’m a part of!’ And all these fan-boy feelings started welling up.”
Why Naatu Naatu is also being praised for is for being rooted to Indian culture and needless to say, it has opened up the world to true blue desi music. Reacting to it, Edward shares, “Both the song and the film are indeed completely Indian. I would say, in fact, that they represent modern Indian popular filmmaking and song writing at their finest.”
Confident that RRR has set a precedent and will encourage more films both in the country and overseas to incorporate larger-than-life elements in their cinema, the actor, who will next be seen in filmmaker Vikramaditya Motwane’s web series Spotlight, states, “So, the success and love being showered right now is, of course, a huge stamp of approval. I bet we’re soon going to see more films in India and probably internationally as well that fearlessly mix big action and these big emotions with rich visuals and symbolism like RRR did.”
On a related note, Naatu Naatu is composed by MM Keeravani and penned by Chandrabose with vocals by Rahul Sipligunj and Kaala Bhairava.
Read all the Latest Movies News here
Comments
0 comment