South vs Bollywood, Boycott Culture & OTT; The Elephant Whisperers & RRR’s Oscar Win Sparks Debate in Parliament

India made it big at the 95th Academy Awards held on Monday as SS Rajamouli’s RRR song ‘Naatu Naatu’ won Best Original Song and Guneet Monga & Kartiki Gonsalves’s The Elephant Whisperers won Best Documentary Short film awards. Naturally, a glimpse of celebration was seen in Rajya Sabha on Tuesday, as Members of Parliament took turns to congratulate makers of both films and the Indian fraternity.

Union Minister Piyush Goyal pointed out that the win by ‘The Elephant Whisperers’ was also special because it was driven by two women, making it a proud moment for India. However, different politicians had different takes on who to credit for the accomplishments, sparking a debate on the rise of OTT platforms, the boycott culture for some films on social media and the ‘South vs Bollywood’ narrative.

Rajya Sabha MP Priyanka Chaturvedi said, “After this win at Oscars – this boycott culture on social media should also come to an end.”

‘Cinema’s Market in India, not America’

Rajya Sabha MP Jaya Bachchan said, “This is just the beginning and I would like to congratulate the Indian population, for whom people in the West are recognising great works by Indian filmmakers. The market of cinema is here, and not in America.”

“These achievements reflect a global appreciation of the vast talent, immense creativity and committed dedication of Indian artists. Indeed another facet of our global rise and recognition,” said Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar. He also urged MPs to not politicise the win.

The Elephant Whisperers & Rise of OTT Platforms

Several Rajya Sabha MPs also gave credit to OTT platforms and their rise globally, which gave ‘The Elephant Whisperers’ a platform. BJD leaders Prashanta Nanda and Amar Pattnaik pointed out to rise of these digital platforms. “

“The documentary shows a connection between human beings and animals beautifully and the way India is going ahead of digitilization and creativity, is something that should be commended,” Pattnaik said. ‘The Elephant Whisperers’ was released on the streaming platform Netflix.

South vs Bollywood Debate

While several Rajya Sabha MPs like Jaya Bachchan, John Brittas, Rajiv Shukla and Shantanu Sen agreed that the win is collectively India’s, there were some members who seemed to give an extra credit to the southern regions responsible for making RRR.

“The win is not by North or East or West or South but is a collective win for Indian cinema,” said Jaya Bachchan. Meanwhile, MDMK leader Vaiko reminded the assembly of an earlier Oscar win by music composer AR Rahman, who is also from the southern state of Tamil Nadu. “I also want to recall what AR Rahman achieved for India.” To this, RS Chairman had a rather peculiar response. “If I wasn’t a lawyer, I would definitely be an actor,” he said.

AIADMK leader M Thambidurai also took note of ‘The Elephant Whisperers’ being shot in Tamil Nadu. “The documentary short was shot in Ooty and I would like to take pride in it,” he said.

Also, Andhra Pradesh BJP leader CM Ramesh extended his congratulations over RRR’s ‘Naatu Naatu’ winning Best Original Song in the Telugu language. He did so because the film was originally shot and made in Telugu.

Earlier on Monday, Telangana Cinematography Minister Talasani Srinivas Yadav said the government would felicitate the ‘RRR’ team upon arrival in India. Alleging that the NDA government at the Centre discriminated against southern states, he said the Centre chose to send a Gujarati film as official entry for Oscars, ignoring ‘RRR’.

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