Naatu Naatu’s Disappointing Lack of Representation at Oscars

Sunday’s Oscars had a big Asian representation with “Everything Everywhere All At Once” winning seven Oscars and “The Elephant Whisperers” winning Best Documentary Short. Deepika Padukone presented “Naatu Naatu,” hit song from award winning movie “RRR,” with Best Original Song, which made history as the first song from an Indian movie to win this award.

“Naatu Naatu” was also performed on the Oscar stage. It was a big milestone for Telugu communities around the world. However, out of all of the 20 dancers that were in the performance, none of them were of South Asian descent. The cast was made to be diverse with people of color from all backgrounds, but failed to include Indian and South Asian actors.

It wasn’t just the dancers who were non-South Asian; it was also choroegraphed, directed, and casted by non-Indian creators. The same goes for costumes and set designs.

The leads from the movie N.T. Rama Rao Jr. and Ram Charan were unable to make the performance because of other commitments. In the film, the dance was performed in front of British colonists that commented on how they were not sophisticated enough to dance. The dance seemingly impressed and angered the colonizers who could not match their dancing.

The movie has strong anti-colonial messages, which unfortunately did not seem as authentic on the Oscar stage without the South Asian representation it required leaving many fans disappointed.