Opinion

Celebrate Natu Natu’s Oscars but don’t forget this boycott

March 13, 2023
Bharat Times

IIt was a historic day for India at the 95th Academy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles. RRR won the Oscar for Best Original Song with grandson grandson, But the proud moment for Indians across the globe was overshadowed by the complete lack of representation during the high-octane performance of the song globally on the awards night.

grandson grandson Stands out not just for the song or the tala, but equally for the full bang performance of Jr NTR and Ram Charan as Komaram Bheem and Alluri Sitarama Raju take on a dance challenge one against the other. Firang (Western), and conquer it. And to put on a performance on the Academy Awards stage that engages in passing is tone-deaf, to say the least.

‘pass’ refers to examples When members of one racial, ethnic or religious group present themselves as belonging to another such group. In this instance, the two principal dancers, Billy Mustafa and Jason Glover, were in no way related to South Asian heritage, being Indian and, in particular, from different communities in South India.

While Billy is a Lebanese-Canadian, Jason Glover is American. They were dressed as characters played by NTR and Charan, and taken to the stage to perform a number that explicitly questions colonialism and white supremacy in the film. Indeed, the closest link to India for anyone on the cast list is probably Lauren Gottlieb, who dances as Jennifer in the film. RRR. Gottlieb has acted and danced ABCD: Any Body Can Dance (2013).

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not just grandchildren

It was indeed an iconic day for India at the Oscars. Deepika Padukone welcomes singers Rahul Sipligunj and Kaal Bhairav ​​on stage for their performance grandson grandson, The song garnered other nominations such as Praise From say it like a lady (Diane Warren), hold my hand From top gun maverick (Lady Gaga and Bloodpop), Lift me up From black panther wakanda forever (Thames, Rihanna, Ryan Coogler and Ludwig Goransson), this is a life From everything together everywhere (Ryan Lott, David Byrne and Mitsky). This is also the first win for an Indian production song.

Music composer MM Keeravani and lyricist Chandra Bose, singing a version of carpenter‘ Kill very happy His acceptance speech will give goosebumps to every Indian.

Karthik Gonsalves and Guneet Monga’s Netflix Tamil documentary short, also in the Best Documentary Short category. elephant whispering Became the first Indian production to win at the Oscars.

This year has been good for India and for Asian representation in general. Michelle Yeoh becomes the first Asian in a leading role to win an Oscar with her extraordinary performance Everything together everywhere. The film also took a total of 11 wins, and it is ironical that on a day like this, grandson grandsonThe performance became a place of exclusion. The last Oscar win for India was almost a decade ago, when AR Rahman’s Jai Ho won the award in 2014.

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one step back

The exclusion and passage have been questioned by South Asian dancers who live in Los Angeles and elsewhere, and would be honored to have the chance to perform.

Divya Jethwani, a music manager and choreographer who works with artistes from the South Asian diaspora and the sub-continent, took to Instagram to pen a note. She told how there was a time when artists like Nick Jonas collaborated with King Respect my love And Tesher literally broke the internet with both the song and the video. jalebi baby Jason Derulo doing Bhangra like a pro, this kind of lapse is completely unacceptable.

Another Indian-American dancer Ishani Express Her frustration on Instagram.

Maybe the organizers of the Academy Awards show should take a serious look at Michelle Yeoh’s Oscar acceptance speech this year. Yeoh said, “To all those little boys and girls who look up to me tonight, this is a beacon of hope and possibility.” Bread crumbing is no longer the answer to representation. It should be all-round, loud and proud.

Thoughts are personal.

(Editing by Anurag Choubey)