Does RRR's Naatu Naatu Oscars Performance Live Up To The Movie's Amazing Sequence?

Without question, the greatest movie scene of 2022 was the musical number "Naatu Naatu" from S.S. Rajamouli's Telugu-language epic "RRR." Since the day I saw it back in early April 2022, not a week goes by that I don't fire up that song on Apple Music or just watch the scene again on YouTube. It is not just an earworm that plays on a loop in my head. It is not just a feat of movie musical choreography and cinematography. It is a perfect storytelling song and sequence that perfectly captures the film's anti-colonialist themes.

When awards season came around, all of us "RRR" fans not just crossed our fingers for "Naatu Naatu" to actually get nominated and win the Oscar (which it did). We all wanted to see that number performed live at the Oscars, as is customary with the Best Original Song nominees. Lucky for us, it happened! Of course, we have had nearly a year to fantasize about what that performance would be. Could it even be possible for our imaginations to be satiated? Well, we saw the performance, and ... it was pretty good. Not great. Not awful. Pretty good.

Though N.T. Rama Rao Jr. and Ram Charan are the ones on screen dancing up a storm for "Naatu Naatu," but they are not the ones singing the song. That would be Rahul Sipligunj and Kaala Bhairava, and for this performance, they got to be the ones up on stage, having their voices come out of their actual faces. Had this been Hollywood, they would want to hide any trace of an actor not doing their own singing, but in India, that is not the case. I'm so glad these two got to have some of the spotlight.

However, I still would have liked to see Jr NTR and Charan up on that stage. I understand they are both incredibly busy movie stars who probably had very little time for rehearsal, but having two dancers who kind of look like those two stars in their place was somewhat distracting. Capable dancers, for sure, but there's a reason those other two guys are two of the biggest movie stars in the world, even if most Americans don't know their names.

Though it would have been very cool to have a stage completely full of South Asian dancers working up a sweat, I think this collection of folks of many different skin colors — and even different body types — was a nice touch to showcase the film and the song's cross-cultural appeal. The choreography was certainly on point, but I don't think the way it was shot best exemplified their work. Just merely adequate.

I don't know what they could have done to satisfy the "RRR" legion. I think we were just imagining every single person in the room all dancing together. As long as the performance got one more person to watch "RRR," then it worked.