A performance of “Naatu Naatu,” the Best Original Song nominee from the Indian film RRR, earned a standing ovation Sunday night at the 95th Academy Awards.
The first song ever nominated from an Indian production has become a worldwide sensation thanks to its inclusion in a key scene of the film. It’s a non-stop dance number that literally has had movie audiences dancing in the theater.
The production at the Oscars mimicked the RRR scene which features “Naatu Naatu”: A garden party in front of a stately pastel-colored mansion, during which two Indian revolutionaries show up rude British colonialists by dancing them into submission.
As the two Indian vocalists whose voices were heard in the film sang the song, a group of dancers recreated the movie’s frantic hook-step choreography, including the suspender-twanging moves of the two main characters. At the end, the dancers made their way off the stage and into the aisles.
But sadly, despite host Jimmy Kimmel‘s promise at the beginning of the telecast, the “Naatu Naatu” dancers did not “dance off” the winners whose speeches ran long.
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