March 28, 2024

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The Academy Awards face constant criticism over the performance of "Natto NATO"

The Academy Awards face constant criticism over the performance of “Natto NATO”

The 95th Academy Awards
picture: Kevin Winter (Getty Images)

after a week of broadcastingThe 95th Academy Awards continue to come under scrutiny from critics, precisely because of their handling (and the way they were chosen). From a long awaited performance of “Naat”u naatu “from the world of world cinema $$$$. As I mentioned in pieces before diverseAnd Los Angeles TimesAnd IndieWireAnd more to perform “Naatu naatu “was fired for inclusion There are no dancers who are entirely of South Asian origin, although they came from a film by Indian directors, about Indian history, and made great use of Indian music styles.

It wasn’t initially meant to be this way; The Oscars producers approached the film’s stars, N.J.T. Rama Rao Junior and Ram Charan, to recreate the high-energy dance battle from the 2022 film. But both men declined, apparently uncomfortable with the short amount of time they had to perfect the Oscars version of the dance. So instead, choreographers Tabitha and Napoleon Dumont (aka NappyTabs) She reportedly hired dancers who were familiar with the performance of the piece, included Lebanese-Canadian dancer Billy Mostafa and American dancer Jason Glover are at the top of the list of nominees $$$$ stars.

And during the Oscars Dance Show He was Technically speaking More diverse than the one in the movie – which mostly revolves around NTR Jr. and Charan’s characters dancing the foolishness of a group of pesky white British men – South Asian professionals in the dance community are still being called out for Oscars for ignoring an opportunity to feature more South Asian performers on such a huge stage. “RIn particular, where is the representation? asked choreographer Joya Caze in an Instagram post that preceded the performance (but no news of his casting). Meanwhile, a dancer Achinta S. McDaniel didn’t mince words, saying diverse“,”Some people say, “Just be happy with what we got,” and that’s part of it [the problem] – The idea of ​​just accepting scraps thrown at you. Just Be Happy Hindi Song Nominated [and won]. Do not be offended by the overwhelming racism displayed in the performance.” Several critics also drew contrasts between the performance of “Naatu Naatu” and that of “Jai Ho” by the homeless milionaire At the 2009 Academy Awards, every media studies professor Shilpa Devi Featured Indian singers were a multi-ethnic group of dancers and musicians.”

So far, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has yet to release an official statement in response to the criticism.

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