This image released by NBC shows M. M. Keeravani accepting the Best Original Song award for "Naatu Naatu" from "RRR" during the 80th Annual Golden Globe Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2023, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo: AP)

Lovers of Indian films, more so south Indian films, and the Telugu film world, is on cloud nine, celebrating the proud moment when music composer M.M. Keeravani’s number, “Naatu, Naatu”, got its first big international win when it also became the first Indian movie song — and also the first Asian movie song — to win a Golden Globe Award.

The Naatu, Naatu song, which won the “Best Original Song Award”, was penned by Chandra Bose and sung by Rahul Sipligunj and Kaala Bhairava, and became a rage beyond national boundaries, with its racy hook, step sequence in ace movie director S.S. Rajamouli’s action drama RRR.

The Globes are the first of eight awards announced in Hollywood every year during the film awards season, which will culminate in the night of eternal fame, with the Academy Awards Ceremony, popularly called Oscars, where too, Rajamouli’s RRR has a date.

Though Golden Globes awards are ranked third in popularity, after the Oscars and Grammys, winners of this award are selected by 105 members of the association, compared to 9,000 members of Oscars and 20,000 for Emmys. The Golden Globes Awards are bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, starting in January 1944, to recognise excellence in both American and international film and television.

While there have been many songs that match “Naatu Naatu” in popularity in the Indian film industry, only few producers have reached a tipping point of fame to showcase their movies at an international level, or present them to a jury. The success of RRR in pitching the movie to western audiences and Hollywood is really impressive, and would serve as a template for others in the Indian film industry to follow.

If others in Indian entertainment can tap the country’s great tradition in storytelling, the country can replicate the IT success in entertainment and rival the Hollywoods of the Western world. Should that be the case, Rajamouli would be that brave pioneer.