'Naatu Naatu' Oscars Performance Marks The Song's First Awards Season Debut

M. M. Keeravani
FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images

The Oscars 2023 Performance roster is getting bigger and bigger as the ceremony nears.

"Naatu Naatu," the Oscar-nominated song from "RRR," will be having its awards show season debut at the 95th Annual Academy Awards.

Billboard recently reported the news, which now ticks the Indian song as the fourth Best Original Song nominated performance of the night.

'Naatu Naatu' Oscars Performance

This is the first time that an Indian song will be performed at the Oscars in the past 14 years. The last time an Indian song was performed was when A.R. Rahman and Mahalaxmi Iyer performed "Jai Ho" in 2008 for "Slumdog Millionaire." Rahman also performed the song "O..Saya" at the ceremony, which was the second-nominated song from the movie of the same year.

The publication noted that Rahul Sipligunj and Kaala Bhairava would be the ones performing the song "Naatu Naatu" at the Oscars.

With music from M.M. Keeravaani and written by Chandrabose, "Naatu Naatu" is predicted to take home the Academy Award for Best Original Song following its win at the Golden Globe Awards.

It beat out strong acts like Rihanna's "Lift Me Up," Taylor Swift's "Carolina," Lady Gaga's "Hold My Hand," and Guillermo Del Toro's "Ciao Papa."

Following its Golden Globe momentum, Variety still ranked the song as the most likely to take home the Oscar on Mar. 12, 2023, despite Rihanna's soaring performance at the Super Bowl halftime show.

Oscars Best Original Song Performance Prediction

Billboard also reported that "Naatu Naatu" was the fourth nominee of Best Original Song from the category that has been confirmed to perform at the Oscars.

Rihanna's "Lift Me Up" from "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" was the first confirmed performance. The following day, Diane Warren's "Applause" from "Tell It Like A Woman" was also confirmed with a performance from Sofia Carson. Yesterday, Mitski's "This is A Life" from "Everything Everywhere All At Once" was also confirmed, with Stephanie Hsu filling in for Mitski.

To date, only Lady Gaga's "Hold My Hand" from "Top Gun: Maverick" remains the only unconfirmed performance for the show. Should the Academy book Gaga for performance, this will be the first time in three years that they will be able to have all five nominees perform.

The last time all five nominees performed was in 2019 at the 92nd annual Academy Awards.

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