As the RRR fim song ‘Naatu Naatu’ has won the Golden Globe award for ‘Best Original Song’, one person who deserves a Thank You is Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who gave the permission to shoot the song in front of the Presidential Palace, portraying the British era building in 1920s in India.
When the film was shot in August 2021, the war clouds were not there and the film shooting was done to evade the Covid-ridden countryside in India by the film’s director S.S. Rajamouli, who was able to get the permission from Zelensky, who happened to be a former actor himself and was responsive to the request.
Mariinskyi Palace where RRR song “Naatu Naatu” was filmed
known as the Mariinskyi Palace, the ornate presidential palace of Ukraine served a perfect venue for the shoot of the song sequence “Naatu Naatu” where the British officials were shown assembling for festive celebrations in the movie RRR.
Originally constructed in 1752 during the period of the Russian Empress Elizaveta Petrovna by her architect Bartolomeo Rastrelli, the palace served as the main residence of the Governors-General. It underwent several restorations, the last one in the 1980s.
In his interview two years ago, director SS Rajamouli had said, “We shot the Naatu Naatu song in Ukraine. It is a real location. Actually, it is the Ukrainian President’s palace. There is a parliament right beside the palace. Luckily, they gave us permission to shoot because the Ukrainian president was a television actor. The funny thing is that he acted as the President in a TV series before becoming the President.”
The Ukraine leg was the last shooting schedule of the film and when the situation in Ukraine got escalated into a war with Russia, Rajamouli was sad. “We had gone there to shoot some crucial scenes. When we were shooting, I had no idea about the issues that have now escalated into a war. It was only after I returned and looking at things now, did I understand the seriousness of the issue,” he told in the interview.
‘Naatu Naatu’ was composed by Rajamouli’s brother MM Keeravani and the original Telugu lyrics were written by Chandrabose. Rahul Sipligunj and Kaala Bhairava lend their voice in Telugu and KD Harisankar, Yazin Nizar, and Vishal Mishra to the dubbed versions and above all the credit goes to high-octane dance sequence choreographed by Prem Rakshith.
