Vivek Agnihotri reacts to ‘Naatu Naatu’ winning at the Oscars 2023: I am happy that non-Bollywood star oriented cinema is being replaced with real Indian cinema – Exclusive! – Times of India

The country is celebrating as India bagged two Oscars this year! ‘Naatu Naatu’ from ‘RRR’ won the Best Original Song award and ‘The Elephant Whisperers’ won Best Documentary Short honour at the 95th Academy Awards. ETimes reached out to Vivek Agnihotri as India achieved this feat, and the filmmaker shared, “It’s a great time for Indian cinema. Starting with our film The Kashmir Files, which caught the attention of the global audience, followed up with RRR’s unprecedented success, two documentaries and an Oscar for The Elephant Whisperers and Deepika Padukone presenting a segment at Oscars.” Deepika attended the Oscars and introduced the song ‘RRR’ at the prestigious awards ceremony.

Stressing on the importance of regional cinema, Vivek further added, “I am particularly happy that non-Bollywood star oriented cinema is now being replaced with real Indian cinema. I hope and pray that Bengali, Marathi, Punjabi, Malayalam and other regions also push the envelope and we start using Indian cinema as one entity and use it as our strongest one.”

Reacting to Naatu Naatu’s win, NTR Jr said in a statement, “I cannot find the words to express my elation right now. This is not just a win for RRR but for India as a country. I believe this is just the beginning, showing us how far Indian cinema can go. Congratulations to Keeravani garu and Chandrabose garu. Of course none of this would have been possible without a master storyteller called Rajamouli and the audiences who showered us with all the love. I would also like to congratulate the team of ‘The Elephant Whisperers’ on their win today bringing another Oscar to India.”

Vivek’s film The Kashmir Files has also created an impact at other international awards shows and film festivals.