With RRR’s ‘Naatu Naatu’ and two documentary nominations at Oscars 2023, India has reason to cheer. But do the awards really matter?

Wooing the vast Asian movie market may be among Hollywood’s top priorities but the Academy Awards hype does little for global independent cinema

In the run-up to the 95 th Academy Awards, which airs in India Monday, Telugu blockbuster  RRR is the worst — or perhaps the best — thing to happen to Shaunak Sen’s  All That Breathes and Kartiki Gonsalves’s  The Elephant Whisperers, both of which are in with a realistic chance of making history at the Oscars.

All of India is hung up on the Original Song nomination for the infectiously peppy ‘Naatu Naatu’. It is another matter that the recognition represents disappointingly slim pickings for a heavily publicised film that was tipped to garner best picture, directing and acting nods.

The two wonderful Indian documentaries have, in the bargain, escaped unwanted media frenzy. Just as well, given that most entertainment industry chroniclers in this country cannot tell an Oscar from a Palme d’Or.

If anyone can now rival  RRR for their attention, it is actor Deepika Padukone, who is set to present an Oscar, and Indo-Canadian YouTuber Lilly Singh, who will host the Academy Awards pre-show. So,  All That Breathes and  The Elephant Whisperers aren’t exactly bobbing on the Indian media radar, not yet at any rate.

The hype the Academy Awards has generated in India this year is way out of proportion.  RRR may not have made the sort of Oscar waves it was expected to, but the buzz might help director S.S. Rajamouli make Hollywood inroads. That would be a personal, and deserving, triumph for him. It would, however, do little for Indian cinema, especially its non-mainstream strand, which relies on international festival exposure for sustenance.

Filmmaker Rima Das, whose Village Rockstars was India’s official Oscar submission in 2018, says: “A small independent film can be competitive only if it rides on prior visibility and plays the game with a clear strategy. Festival exposure is helpful, but you need money to camp in Los Angeles and campaign.”

She cites the examples of India’s Chhello Show and Pakistan’s Joyland. The former came via Tribeca, the latter from Cannes, so they weren’t unknown entities, Das says. In a year to remember for subcontinental indie cinema, both made the Oscars shortlist but eventually fell short.