Ram Charan & Jr NTR drove me to strive for excellence: Prem Rakshit

Surprisingly, RRR misses out at 2023 BAFTA nominations

The Naatu Naatu song from Rajamouli’s blockbuster period action drama, RRR, made the country proud by winning the prestigious Golden Globe for Best Original Song. In his acceptance speech, the song’s composer MM Keeravani rightly credited choreographer Prem Rakshit for his efforts behind the song.

Needless to say, Prem Rakshit is overjoyed with his song going places. In a recent interview with a national English daily, the talented choreographer said that he was speechless and emotional when Rama Rajamouli called him after Naatu Naatu’s Golden Globe win. “I got teary eyed after hearing the excitement in Rajamouli sir’s voice,” said Prem.

Prem Rakshit credited Keeravani’s composition, Chandrabose’s lyrics and Rajamouli’s vision for making Naatu Naatu a memorable dance number. He revealed that it took the unit numbers rehearsals for 20 days with over 500 dancers from Ukraine to bring the song to life.

Prem finally lauded his heroes NTR and Ram Charan for making the song look like a visual feast.

“NTR and Ram Charan kept asking me what more could be done to better the song despite rehearsing for several hours. Such is their passion for cinema and that’s what drove me to strive for excellence,” he concluded. Prem Rakshit’s next big outing is Nani and Keerthy Suresh’s Dasara.

However, filmmaker S S Rajamouli’s RRR on Thursday failed to make the cut in the final nominations for the 2023 BAFTA awards.The movie was in the longlist for the ‘film not in English language’ category but couldn’t find a spot in the segment final five nominees list.
The final nominees of the category were All Quiet on the Western Front, Argentina, 1985, Corsage, Decision To Leave, and The Quiet Girl.

The BAFTA snub comes as a rare miss for the film which earlier this month bagged a Golden Globe for best original song for the Telugu track Naatu Naatu and Critics Choice Awards for best foreign language film and best song.

The 2023 BAFTA award ceremony will take place on February 19 at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall.The organisers on Thursday unveiled the final nominees for 24 categories, including best film, cinematography, casting, documentary, film not in English language and documentary feature film.