published by, Chirag Sehgal
Last Update: March 20, 2023, 10:21 IST
Natu Natu was performed by American dances at the prestigious 95th Academy Awards. (Photos: Twitter)
Initially, it was said that Ram Charan and Jr NTR would perform on Natu Natu at the Oscars. However, it was later reported that both the actors declined due to time constraints.
Oscars 2023 was historic for India in many ways. While SS Rajamouli’s RRR won the Best Original Song award, The Elephant Whispers was also crowned as the Best Documentary Short Film. Naatu Naatu was also screened at the prestigious 95th Academy Awards. While singers Rahul Sipligunj and Kala Bhairav were present to perform their hit tune from Tollywood smash ‘RRR’, they were not joined on stage by a single dancer of South Asian heritage, reports Variety. This has disappointed many people.
Many in the South Asian dance community are dismayed by the surprising lack of South Asian representation in the ‘Naatu Naatu’ performance at the Academy Awards.
“(The 2009 Oscars) had Indian singers and it was a multi-racial group of dancers and musicians,” explained Shilpa Dave, assistant professor of media studies at the University of Virginia, who specializes in the history of race and gender representation. Media. “They were really showing that music has this global power. So people didn’t have an issue at the time,” she said.
“Some people say, ‘Be happy with what we’ve got,’ and that’s part of the [the problem] “It’s just the idea of accepting the scraps that are thrown at you,” McDaniel, founder and artistic director of the Los Angeles-based dance company, told Variety.
McDaniel’s agent put her forward to serve as an associate consultant for the performance two weeks before the Oscars, but her reps were told that AMPAS-selected choreographers Tabitha and Napoleone D’Umo, a Los Angeles-based duo who had been hired by the Los Angeles Film Festival, were hired. Known as NappyTabs, already hired his team.
“(Equity) is a big part of my interest, and it has inspired many of my colleagues in the field,” McDaniel said.
Meanwhile, Dave, who wrote the 2013 book ‘Indian Accents: Brown Voices and Racial Performance in American Television and Film’, also shared that the inclusion of South Asian entertainers in the prestigious ceremony is the ‘next step’. “It’s about thinking about representation and advocacy not only for directors, writers and actors, but also for the performers at large,” she said and added, “I think the dancers have been left out of this conversation. So when we’re looking at casting agencies and talent agencies,[we need to ask]where are the agents who are advocating for the establishment?”
Initially, it was said that RRR star Ram Charan and Jr NTR would only perform on Naatu Naatu at the Oscars. However, it was later reported that both the actors declined due to time constraints.
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(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed)
