HomeEntertainment NewsOscars 2023: RRR and the irresistible lure of historical fiction

Oscars 2023: RRR and the irresistible lure of historical fiction

As historic as Naatu Naatu's Oscar win is, it was not unexpected. The song had already blown up on social media with videos of audiences going berserk with excitement in theatres going viral, several trends taking root and proliferating.

By Sneha Bengani  March 14, 2023, 2:39:52 PM IST (Updated)

RRR's unprecedented win at the 95th Academy Awards on Monday has catapulted Telugu films and SS Rajamouli, one of South-Indian cinema's biggest filmmakers, to global superstardom. Naatu Naatu won the Oscar for Best Original Song, making it the first Indian movie to have bagged the honours.

Notably, in 2009, Slumdog Millionaire's Jai Ho took home an Oscar in the same category, and another for Best Original Score. Although the film's cast and crew were predominantly Indian — actors Dev Patel, Freida Pinto, Anil Kapoor, lyricist Gulzar and music composer AR Rahman — the Danny Boyle directorial was a British production.

Naatu Naatu's music composer MM Keeravaani and lyricist Chandrabose accepted the coveted golden trophies at the glittering gala held at Dolby Theatre, Los Angeles. Kala Bhairava and Rahul Sipligunj, who have sung the original track in the film, gave an adrenaline-pumped performance during the ceremony to resounding applause and a standing ovation.

Also read: 'Naatu Naatu' performance receives standing ovation at Oscars 2023

However, as historic as this win is, it is not unexpected. Naatu Naatu had already blown up on social media with videos of audiences going berserk with excitement in theatres going viral, several trends taking root and proliferating. The Golden Globe win earlier this year only cemented its supremacy over the other contenders—Applause from Tell It Like A Woman, Hold My Hand from Top Gun: Maverick, Lift Me Up from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and This is Life from Everything Everywhere All At Once.

MM Keeravaani and Chandrabose pose with the Oscar for Best Original Song for "Naatu Naatu" from "RRR" in the Oscars photo room at the 95th Academy Awards in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California on March 12, 2023. (Image: Reuters)


RRR is inspired by the lives and times of two real-life Indian freedom revolutionaries Komaram Bheem and Alluri Sitarama Raju. Although they lived around the same time (early 20th century), the two men never met or knew each other. RRR is Rajamouli’s imagined version of what could have happened if they had. This is what makes the genre of historical fiction so fascinating. It allows creators to build bewitching worlds; they use the real only as a vessel, a canvas to fill with their rich, exquisite imaginations. After all, isn't the best fiction always firmly grounded in reality?

Watch: RRR's 'Naatu Naatu' Makes History | Here's The List Of Indians Who Won Oscars honours

The Rajamouli film starring Ram Charan and NTR Jr. is the newest entrant in a genre brimming to the full with magnificent examples of maverick filmmakers running wild with their creative faculties, making and unmaking worlds that feel known and yet are absolutely new. Take Mughal-e-Azam for instance. K Asif’s opulent magnum opus tells the story of Mughal prince Salim’s star-crossed romance with an ethereal court performer Anarkali. So smitten are the two with each other, so hopelessly in love, that they upend the establishment and the prevalent societal mores as if it were the most natural thing for lovers to do, as if it wouldn’t prove catastrophic or fatal.

Filmmakers besotted with historical fiction have a strong affinity towards the lives and the loves of kings and queens. The temptation is understandable—it accords them the singular luxury and the easy permission to indulge in hyperbole—extravagant sets, resplendent costumes, heightened drama, staggering scale—giving their work a dreamlike quality, an otherworld tonality. Several popular films come to mind: Santosh Sivan’s Asoka (2001), Ashutosh Gowarikar’s Jodhaa Akbar (2008), Ketan Mehta’s Mangal Pandey: The Rising (2005), Kangana Ranaut’s Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi (2019), Mani Rantam’s Ponniyin Selvan: I (2022) but no filmmaker has established themselves as the undisputed maestro of the genre as Sanjay Leela Bhansali. His Devdas (2002), Bajirao Mastani (2015), and Padmaavat (2018), each a shiny, shimmering Bollywood blockbuster featuring megastars, have rewritten the rules of what historical dramas for modern audiences should look like and all that they can aspire and achieve.

However, it is Anurag Singh’s Kesari (2019) and Om Raut’s Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior (2020) that are closer to RRR in their depiction of common men taking up arms in rebellion. RRR’s stupendous success worldwide along with the desperate demand for spectacle sagas to ensure sustained footfall in theatres will only bolster this already thriving genre. As we move into the future, expect more stories from the past—bigger, more outlandish, fantastical, intense, and whimsical.