VFX Oscars 2023: ‘Naatu Naatu’ song from ‘RRR’, ‘Pinocchio’ emerge victorious -

Oscars 2023: ‘Naatu Naatu’ song from ‘RRR’, ‘Pinocchio’ emerge victorious

The 95th Academy Awards held on 12 March 2023 at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood was a star-studded affair.

Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio won the Best Animated Feature award and the Best Animated Short Film went to Charlie Mackesy’s The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse, based on his best-selling illustrated book of the same name. Indian blockbuster film RRR made the nation proud as MM Keeravani’s peppy dance number Naatu Naatu bagged the coveted statuette in the Best Original Song category.

The stop-motion film Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio has already taken home the Golden Globes, BAFTAs and Annie Awards. The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse is also a multiple award winning project based on a story of friendship, hope and courage. Even Naatu Naatu won at the Golden Globes 2023 for the Best Original Song.

Naatu Naatu’s victory makes it the first song from an Indian movie to win an Oscar. Deepika Padukone who was a presenter at the event introduced Rahul Sipligunj, Kaala Bhairava and others for the performance on the rhythmic song.

The entire nation has joined the celebrations for RRR and The Elephant Whisperers that grabbed Oscars for Best Documentary Short Subject.

“Exceptional! The popularity of Naatu Naatu is global. It will be a song that will be remembered for years to come. Congratulations to @mmkeeravaani @boselyricist and the entire team for this prestigious honour. India is elated and proud. #Oscars,” prime minister Narendra Modi shared on Twitter.

He further shared, “Congratulations to @EarthSpectrum, @guneetm and the entire team of ‘The Elephant Whisperers’ for this honour. Their work wonderfully highlights the importance of sustainable development and living in harmony with nature. #Oscars.”

James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water that dominated the 21st Annual VES Awards with nine wins did not make much noise at this year’s Oscars. However, it swept away other nominees in the Best Visual Effects category and made its presence felt at the event. New Zealand’s Wētā FX won the award for the long-awaited Avatar sequel.

In this film, the cinematic experience reaches new heights as Cameron transports audiences back to the magnificent world of Pandora in a spectacular and stirring action-packed adventure. The breathtaking character and environment design using underwater shots and CGI makes it a visual treat.

Here is the full list of nominees and winners for Oscars 2023:

Performance by an actor in a leading role

  • Austin Butler in Elvis
  • Colin Farrell in The Banshees of Inisherin
  • WINNER: Brendan Fraser in The Whale
  • Paul Mescal in Aftersun
  • Bill Nighy in Living

 Performance by an actor in a supporting role

  • Brendan Gleeson in The Banshees of Inisherin
  • Brian Tyree Henry in Causeway
  • Judd Hirsch in The Fabelmans
  • Barry Keoghan in The Banshees of Inisherin
  • WINNER: Ke Huy Quan in Everything Everywhere All at Once

 Performance by an actress in a leading role

  • Cate Blanchett in Tár
  • Ana de Armas in Blonde
  • Andrea Riseborough in To Leslie
  • Michelle Williams in The Fabelmans
  • WINNER: Michelle Yeoh in Everything Everywhere All at Once

 Performance by an actress in a supporting role

  • Angela Bassett in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
  • Hong Chau in The Whale
  • Kerry Condon in The Banshees of Inisherin
  • WINNER: Jamie Lee Curtis in Everything Everywhere All at Once
  • Stephanie Hsu in Everything Everywhere All at Once

 Best animated feature film of the year

  • WINNER: Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio Guillermo del Toro, Mark Gustafson, Gary Ungar and Alex Bulkley
  • Marcel the Shell with Shoes On Dean Fleischer Camp, Elisabeth Holm, Andrew Goldman, Caroline Kaplan and Paul Mezey
  • Puss in Boots: The Last Wish Joel Crawford and Mark Swift
  • The Sea Beast Chris Williams and Jed Schlanger
  • Turning Red Domee Shi and Lindsey Collins

 Achievement in cinematography

  • WINNER: All Quiet on the Western Front James Friend
  • Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths Darius Khondji
  • Elvis Mandy Walker
  • Empire of Light Roger Deakins
  • Tár Florian Hoffmeister

 Achievement in costume design

  • Babylon Mary Zophres
  • WINNER: Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Ruth Carter
  • Elvis Catherine Martin
  • Everything Everywhere All at Once Shirley Kurata
  • Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris Jenny Beavan

 Achievement in directing

  • The Banshees of Inisherin Martin McDonagh
  • WINNER: Everything Everywhere All at Once Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert
  • The Fabelmans Steven Spielberg
  • Tár Todd Field
  • Triangle of Sadness Ruben Östlund

 Best documentary feature

  • All That Breathes Shaunak Sen, Aman Mann and Teddy Leifer
  • All the Beauty and the Bloodshed Laura Poitras, Howard Gertler, John Lyons, Nan Goldin and Yoni Golijov
  • Fire of Love Sara Dosa, Shane Boris and Ina Fichman
  • A House Made of Splinters Simon Lereng Wilmont and Monica Hellström
  • WINNER: Navalny Daniel Roher, Odessa Rae, Diane Becker, Melanie Miller and Shane Boris

 Best documentary short subject

  • WINNER: The Elephant Whisperers Kartiki Gonsalves and Guneet Monga
  • Haulout Evgenia Arbugaeva and Maxim Arbugaev
  • How Do You Measure a Year? Jay Rosenblatt
  • The Martha Mitchell Effect Anne Alvergue and Beth Levison
  • Stranger at the Gate Joshua Seftel and Conall Jones

 Achievement in film editing

  • The Banshees of Inisherin Mikkel E.G. Nielsen
  • Elvis Matt Villa and Jonathan Redmond
  • WINNER: Everything Everywhere All at Once Paul Rogers
  • Tár Monika Willi
  • Top Gun: Maverick Eddie Hamilton

 Best international feature film of the year

  • WINNER: All Quiet on the Western Front Germany
  • Argentina, 1985 Argentina
  • Close Belgium
  • EO Poland
  • The Quiet Girl Ireland

 Achievement in makeup and hairstyling

  • All Quiet on the Western Front Heike Merker and Linda Eisenhamerová
  • The Batman Naomi Donne, Mike Marino and Mike Fontaine
  • Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Camille Friend and Joel Harlow
  • Elvis Mark Coulier, Jason Baird and Aldo Signoretti
  • WINNER: The Whale Adrien Morot, Judy Chin and Anne Marie Bradley

 Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)

  • WINNER: All Quiet on the Western Front Volker Bertelmann
  • Babylon Justin Hurwitz
  • The Banshees of Inisherin Carter Burwell
  • Everything Everywhere All at Once Son Lux
  • The Fabelmans John Williams

 Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)

  • Applause from Tell It like a Woman Music and Lyric by Diane Warren
  • “Hold My Hand” from Top Gun: Maverick
    Music and Lyric by Lady Gaga and BloodPop
  • “Lift Me Up” from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
    Music by Tems, Rihanna, Ryan Coogler and Ludwig Goransson; Lyric by Tems and Ryan Coogler
  • WINNER: “Naatu Naatu” from RRR
    Music by M.M. Keeravaani; Lyric by Chandrabose
  • “This Is A Life” from Everything Everywhere All at Once
    Music by Ryan Lott, David Byrne and Mitski; Lyric by Ryan Lott and David Byrne

 Best motion picture of the year

  • All Quiet on the Western Front Malte Grunert, Producer
  • Avatar: The Way of Water James Cameron and Jon Landau, Producers
  • The Banshees of Inisherin Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin and Martin McDonagh, Producers
  • Elvis Baz Luhrmann, Catherine Martin, Gail Berman, Patrick McCormick and Schuyler Weiss, Producers
  • WINNER: Everything Everywhere All at Once Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert and Jonathan Wang, Producers
  • The Fabelmans Kristie Macosko Krieger, Steven Spielberg and Tony Kushner, Producers
  • Tár Todd Field, Alexandra Milchan and Scott Lambert, Producers
  • Top Gun: Maverick Tom Cruise, Christopher McQuarrie, David Ellison and Jerry Bruckheimer, Producers
  • Triangle of Sadness Erik Hemmendorff and Philippe Bober, Producers
  • Women Talking Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner and Frances McDormand, Producers

Achievement in production design

  • WINNER: All Quiet on the Western Front Production Design: Christian M. Goldbeck; Set Decoration: Ernestine Hipper
  • Avatar: The Way of Water Production Design: Dylan Cole and Ben Procter; Set Decoration: Vanessa Cole
  • Babylon Production Design: Florencia Martin; Set Decoration: Anthony Carlino
  • Elvis Production Design: Catherine Martin and Karen Murphy; Set Decoration: Bev Dunn
  • The Fabelmans Production Design: Rick Carter; Set Decoration: Karen O’Hara

 Best animated short film

  • WINNER: The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse Charlie Mackesy and Matthew Freud
  • The Flying Sailor Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby
  • Ice Merchants João Gonzalez and Bruno Caetano
  • My Year of Dicks Sara Gunnarsdóttir and Pamela Ribon
  • An Ostrich Told Me the World Is Fake and I Think I Believe It Lachlan Pendragon

 

The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse

Best live action short film

  • WINNER: An Irish Goodbye Tom Berkeley and Ross White
  • Ivalu Anders Walter and Rebecca Pruzan
  • Le Pupille Alice Rohrwacher and Alfonso Cuarón
  • Night Ride Eirik Tveiten and Gaute Lid Larssen
  • The Red Suitcase Cyrus Neshvad

 Achievement in sound

  • All Quiet on the Western Front Viktor Prášil, Frank Kruse, Markus Stemler, Lars Ginzel and Stefan Korte
  • Avatar: The Way of Water Julian Howarth, Gwendolyn Yates Whittle, Dick Bernstein, Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers and Michael Hedges
  • The Batman Stuart Wilson, William Files, Douglas Murray and Andy Nelson
  • Elvis David Lee, Wayne Pashley, Andy Nelson and Michael Keller
  • WINNER: Top Gun: Maverick Mark Weingarten, James H. Mather, Al Nelson, Chris Burdon and Mark Taylor

 Achievement in visual effects

  • All Quiet on the Western Front Frank Petzold, Viktor Müller, Markus Frank and Kamil Jafar
  • WINNER: Avatar: The Way of Water Joe Letteri, Richard Baneham, Eric Saindon and Daniel Barrett
  • The Batman Dan Lemmon, Russell Earl, Anders Langlands and Dominic Tuohy
  • Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Geoffrey Baumann, Craig Hammack, R. Christopher White and Dan Sudick
  • Top Gun: Maverick Ryan Tudhope, Seth Hill, Bryan Litson and Scott R. Fisher

 Adapted screenplay

  • All Quiet on the Western Front Screenplay by Edward Berger, Lesley Paterson & Ian Stokell
  • Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery Written by Rian Johnson
  • Living Written by Kazuo Ishiguro
  • Top Gun: Maverick Screenplay by Ehren Kruger and Eric Warren Singer and Christopher McQuarrie; Story by Peter Craig and Justin Marks
  • WINNER: Women Talking Screenplay by Sarah Polley

 Original screenplay

  • The Banshees of Inisherin Written by Martin McDonagh
  • WINNER: Everything Everywhere All at Once Written by Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert
  • The Fabelmans Written by Steven Spielberg & Tony Kushner
  • Tár Written by Todd Field
  • Triangle of Sadness Written by Ruben Östlund