The majority of the past decades did not see a non-English win in almost any category at major award shows. The winners and the nominees were predominantly English for numerous prestigious awards ranging from the Golden Globes, Critics Awards, and the SAG. However, the Oscars have managed to award excellence across borders and languages. Therefore, cinema lovers all around look towards it to recognize its brilliance and bestow it with what is considered to be the highest honor in the world of cinema. Therefore, as ‘Naatu Naatu’ gets nominated for Best Original Song, fans are hoping for it to bring home one of the Non-English Oscar wins.

‘Naatu Naatu’ through its upbeat tunes and choreography that would get even the laziest of people grooving to it resulted in a global mania. Hence the uproar for it to win the Best Original Song at the Oscars 2023. However, it will not be the first non-English song to take home an Academy Award. ‘Naatu Naatu’, if it manages to win the Oscar, will join four other tunes that convinced the world of their glory and took home the gold.

Non-English Best Original Song winners at the Academy Awards

In 1960, the song made history by becoming the first ever foreign language track to win the Best Original Song at the Academy Awards. It won as ‘Never on Sunday’, the writer Manos Hadjidakis penned it as ‘Ta Pedia tou Perea,’ which translates to The Children of Piraeus.

The reason behind its popularity as ‘Never on Sunday’ is because it is based on the female protagonist of the Oscar-nominated movie, Ilya. More than three decades after the Oscars introduced a Best Original Song category, ‘Ta Pedia tou Perea’ was the first to achieve this unprecedented feat.

The Spanish song was released in 2004 and marked the second Non-English entry in the list of Best Original Song Academy Award winners. The soulful track was written by Jorge Drexler and was a part of The Motorcycle Diaries.

An Uruguayan singer who, although won the honor, was not allowed to perform the song at the Oscars ceremony. And instead, it was performed by Carlos Santana and Antonio Banderas. The win will forever remain historical as the song was also nominated for a Grammy. Although it lost at the Grammy, it took home the gold at the Oscars.

On the 22nd of February in 2009, ‘Jai Ho’ rightfully took home the Oscar for Best Original Song at the Academy Awards, marking India’s Oscar in the musical category. But the Best Original Song was not the only category that ‘Jai Ho’ earned gold for that night. It was also recognized as the Best Original Song. AR Rahman composed the song for Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire and it now serves as currency in the music world.

‘Jai Ho’ translates to ‘let the victory prevail’ and consists of just the right kind of beat that would get listeners grooving regardless of the language. Although predominantly Hindi, the track has English lyrics written and sung by Tanvi Shah.

Since its groundbreaking win in 2008, Slumdog Millionaire has been the inspiration for countless remakes. This year ‘Naatu Naatu’ mirrors the hype that surrounded ‘Jai Ho’ at the 2009 Oscar awards. And AR Rahman has stated, “I want Naatu Naatu to win,” and cited uplifting India as the reason.

Will Naatu Naatu make the cut for the Non-English Oscar winning song list?

‘Naatu Naatu’ is composed by MM Keeravani for an originally Telugu movie titled RRR which stands for Rise, Roar, Revolt. And that is exactly what it is doing at the Oscars. Not only is the song nominated, but it will also be performed at the ceremony. Unlike the aforementioned foreign tracks that have taken home the Oscar for Best song, ‘Naatu Naatu’ strays away from heavy emotions and instead depends on its energetic beats and choreography.

This was an intentional step taken by the filmmaker, SS Rajamouli, who wanted to present it as a vignette. “The song is a story within the larger story of the film,” he told Vanity Fair. And this storytelling dance number has already scored a Golden Globe.

While Keeravani may not be the first Indian composer to win an Oscar, ‘Naatu Naatu’ will be the first Indian film song to hopefully take home the Oscars. To do so, it has to beat Lady Gaga’s ‘Hold My Hand’, ‘Applause’, ‘Lift Me Up by Rihanna’, and ‘This Is A Life’.

Which of these Oscar-winning songs is your favorite? Let us know in the comments below.