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For NAATU NAATU, Choreographer Prem Rakshith knew that for the piece to work, the two superstars (Ram Charan and Jr NTR) had to look like mirror images of each other. They shot the main hook step 18 times to get the synchronization perfect. The director, S.S. Rajamouli, would freeze-frame the playback on set to check if their hands and legs were at the exact same angle. The song made history by becoming the first Indian film song to win the Oscar for Best Original Song. It is a celebration of "Naatu" (which translates roughly to "rustic" or "local")—using indigenous energy to outlast the stiff, formal waltz of the British oppressors. The scene was filmed at the official residence of the President of Ukraine in Kyiv in August 2021. Both actors are known as some of the best dancers in the Telugu film industry (Tollywood), which raised the stakes for the collaboration. The filming of just this one song took 15 days, with dancers working 12-hour shifts to capture the massive group finale.