Oscar-winning ‘RRR’ song ‘Naatu Naatu’ choreographer Prem Rakshith: Rajamouli taught me how to choreograph to suit the camera angles

Meet Prem Rakshith, choreographer of the ‘RRR’ song ‘Naatu Naatu’, which has just won the Academy Award for Best Original Song. He began his career as a dance teacher to sons of director SS Rajamouli and music composer MM Keeravani

“I am neither too excited, nor too nervous. I want to enjoy the awards ceremony and hope we bring the Oscar home,” Hyderabad-based choreographer Prem Rakshith told The Hindu hours before leaving for Los Angeles to attend the 95th Academy Awards. Rakshith is the choreographer of director S S Rajamouli’s much-celebrated ‘Naatu Naatu’ song composed by MM Keeravani for RRR. ‘Naatu Naatu’ has just won the Academy Award for Best Original Song, received by its composer Keeravani and lyricist Chandrabose at Dolby Theatre, Los Angeles.

Having choreographed for nearly 70 films, Rakshith considers ‘Naatu Naatu’ the most strenuous number he has worked on and says he is overwhelmed and filled with gratitude for the global recognition.

Rajamouli and Keeravani took nearly 17 months to finalise the song composition. When the rough track was ready, Rakshith was involved in the discussions. “A dance contest (face-off) is narrated like a short story. So we came up with a detailed plan about how we wanted to show Ram (Ram Charan) and Bheem (NTR)’s friendship, the romance between the characters Bheem and Jenny (Olivia Morris), and how the male and female background dancers will emote and dance. Wherever I thought we needed extended music (interludes) — for instance, the tail-end of the dance contest between NTR and Ram Charan — I requested Keeravani sir to extend the music.”

Discussing his methodology, Rakshith says once he understands the story and the song situation, he designs the dance to suit an actor’s body language. “What I choreograph for NTR will be different from what I do for Mahesh Babu.”

He has worked with NTR and Ram Charan earlier — Magadheera, Rangasthalam and Acharya for Ram Charan and Dhammu, Yamadonga, Brindavanam and Shakti for NTR. “They both have unique styles and body languages. I had to filter out many moves and choose which ones they could do in a similar manner; that was tough.”

Rakshith and his team of six to seven dancers came up with more than one option for each dance move; the ‘hook step’ that went viral soon after the song’s release, featuring NTR and Charan dancing in sync, was chosen from over 100 options designed by Rakshith.

The song was filmed at Mariinsky Palace, the official residence of the President of Ukraine. The RRR unit would film the song from 7am to 6pm, after which Rakshith would conduct rehearsals till 9pm for the following day’s shoot. They would oversee every move of the lead actors as well as background artistes who were part of the dance face-off.