“Naatu Naatu” from the Indian action epic “RRR” is performed at the 95th Academy Awards on Sunday. None of the dancers onstage were confirmed to be of Indian descent.(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)
RRR, an Indian movie made in the Telugu language about the harms of colonization, made history at the 2023 Oscars. This movie is set in the 1920s, featuring two men who leave their families to fight against British oppression, one of which is fighting to save a little girl who was kidnapped by the British because of her musical talent. Throughout the film, we see her forced to sing for the British against her will.
Considering the themes of this film, the outrage caused by the lack of Indian dancers at RRR’s Oscar performance is unsurprising. Many were extremely excited to see a musical number performed at the Oscars. It was an opportunity to increase representation and share Indian culture. However, many of the dancers who performed were White, and none were of Indian descent. It seems that the Oscars may have overlooked the meaning behind the upbeat song.
Originally, the two lead actors and dancers in the movie, N.T Rama Rao and Ram Charan, were asked to perform at the Oscars. However, according to the LA Times, both actors declined due to time constraints. The Oscars were originally planning to have at least two Indian actors in the performance. However, after Rama Rao and Charan declined, there was not an effort to find talented Indian dancers, of which there are many, to dance in the performance.
RRR winning the Oscar for Best Original Song is a cause for celebration. Indian creatives were recognized for their amazing work and given the spotlight at one of the most televised events in the world. But it is questionable how far we have truly come when Indian dancers are not represented on the stage. CBS interviewed Shivani Reddy, a Telugu American film and TV critic, about the lack of Indian representation and the backlash the Oscars faced after the performance. He commented, “It just felt very exclusionary that the one race they didn’t include was the one that was supposed to be represented because of the film and where it’s from. It’s unfortunate because there are so many South Asian dancers that I know that are in the industry trying to get into those spaces that just don’t get afforded those opportunities. And for the one time that we maybe could have gotten access, we were denied.” Joya Kazi, in an interview with CBS, explained that she had been submitted for consideration to either dance in or be part of the production team for the Naatu Naatu performance, but was denied by NappyTabs, the non Indian choreographers, because they wanted to only work with dancers they had worked with before. She explains that the Oscars and the choreographers “completely failed to acknowledge the fact that they left out people of India, in trying to make this feel like it was like a global performance.”
Cultural appropriation versus appreciation has been an important topic especially in the last decade, and the lack of Indian dancers in the Naatu Naatu performance questions whether or not Indian culture will be continued to be taken by others to use for profit. The idea of making Naatu Naatu a global performance without including the people from whom the dance originated warns against the taking of culture for the entertainment of others.
It is important to consider the historical context that has shaped this single moment in 2023. So much wealth and culture was stolen from Indians during the colonialist rule of the British Empire. This is why it was crucial to have Indian dancers on that stage, instead of having non Indian dancers perform someone else’s culture. In the future, as foreign films become more popular, it will be interesting to see who gets the credit and the profit.