Ace director Rajamouli's RRR has again made India proud on the global platform. After winning the Golden Globe, 'RRR' for the song Naatu Naatu. The film has Critics Choice Awards 2023 under two categories namely 'Best Foreign Language Film' and 'Best Song- Naatu Naatu'.

RRR team

RRR continues to Roar

RRR has now won the Critics' Choice Award for Best Foreign Language Film. A tweet from the handle of the 28th Critics' Choice Awards read: "Congratulations to the cast and crew of @RRRMovie - winners of the #criticschoice Award for Best Foreign Language Film. #CriticsChoiceAwards"

In the Best Foreign Language Film category, the Jr NTR and Ram Charan starrer RRR won against the Argentine film Argentina, 1985; German anti-war film All Quiet on the Western Front; Mexican black comedy Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths; French coming-of-age drama Close; and Korean romance mystery Decision to Leave.

RRR's song Naatu Naatu won against Carolina from Where the Crawdads Sing; Ciao Papa from Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio; Hold My Hand from Top Gun: Maverick; Lift Me Up from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever; and New Body Rhumba from White Noise. The award was collected by the film's music composer MM Keeravaani.

Amidst celebrations and winning galore, director Rajamouli in a discussion said, "RRR is a 'Telugu film from the south of India and is not a Bollywood", his remark has divided the internet.

Ahead of the screening of RRR, the director took the stage to talk to a group of journalists at the Directors Guild of America. Introducing his film, Rajamouli said, "This is not a Bollywood movie. This is a Telugu film from the south of India, where I come from. But I use songs to progress the film forward, move the story forward rather than stopping the film and giving you a piece of music or dance. I use those elements to move the story forward."

Rajamouli's comments, which were posted on Twitter, divided netizens.

One user commented, "RRR is nominated from India. Not south India or Telugu (cinema). Do not (be) biased about region or language. Also, Bollywood, not a film industry represents India."

Another responded, "Why are you expecting all the movies from India to be portrayed as Bollywood?"

A user thought this response was fitting, and said, "Bollywood deserves this insult."

Another reshared the clip and wrote, "Yes. True. Bollywood makes Hindi movies. This is a regional film in the Telugu language. Shouldn't regional movies get credit if they (are) good?"

Another user mentioned, "I don't mind at all. It is a Telugu film and it deserves credit. For years Tollywood struggled to mark its presence even in India being overshadowed by Bollywood. Bollywood never shared its success with them."

"Well he is right but he could have said it was an "Indian Film" .. cos whenever he promoted his movies in north he always pointed it as Indian Film. Anyways success brings out the reality of you", mentioned another user.

RRR is a Telugu Indian film released in multiple languages.

RRR is also on Oscar's shortlist

Meanwhile, Naatu Naatu also features in the Oscars shortlist whereas the movie also made it to the BAFTA longlist for the 'film, not in the English language' category.

RRR is a fictional story set in the 1920s pre-independent era. It is based on the lives of two real heroes and well-known revolutionaries – Alluri Sitarama Raju and Komaram Bheem. While Ram Charan played Ram, Jr NTR aka Tarak was seen as Bheem.

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