What you certainly know by now is that ‘Naatu Naatu’ – the electrifying dance track from SS Rajamouli’s period drama ‘RRR’ has won the Golden Globe award for ‘Best Original Song’. What you probably didn’t is that it has a Ukraine connection and it has to do with the president of the war-torn country.
The picturesque location where the award-winning song ‘Naatu Naatu’ was shot in August 2021 is outside Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's official residence, news agency ANI reported. The palatial ornate building in the backdrop of the famous ‘RRR’ song -- that was shot before Russia invaded Ukraine and the war broke out -- is known as the Mariinskyi Palace.
The director of the film believed that they had managed to get permission to shoot the dance sequence in front of Zelenskyy’s official residence because the President of Ukraine himself was a television actor.
Also read: Golden Globes 2023: RRR's 'Naatu Naatu' wins best original song award; a look at other winners
Two years ago, before the film had released, its director SS Rajamouli had said in an interview: “We shot the Naatu Naatu song in Ukraine. It is a real location. Actually, it is the Ukrainian President’s palace. There is a parliament right beside the palace. Luckily, they gave us permission to shoot because the Ukrainian president was a television actor. The funny thing is that he acted as the President in a TV series before becoming the President.”
Further, the caption of an Instagram post shared by the official handle of the movie ‘RRR’ read: “Team #RRRMovie landed in Ukraine for the last schedule of the film… Excited…”
“The Ukraine leg was the last shooting schedule of the film.”
Later, while promoting the movie in March 2022, Rajamouli had expressed sadness over the situation in Ukraine; by then, the Russia-Ukraine war had broken out.
He had said: “We had gone there to shoot some crucial scenes. When we were shooting, I had no idea about the issues that have now escalated into a war. It was only after I returned and looking at things now, did I understand the seriousness of the issue.”
‘Naatu Naatu’ was composed by MM Keeravani and the original Telugu lyrics were written by Chandrabose. Rahul Sipligunj and Kaala Bhairava sang the original Telugu version of the song, while KD Harisankar, Yazin Nizar, and Vishal Mishra lend their voices to the dubbed versions. The high-octane dance sequence of the song was choreographed by Prem Rakshith.
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