S.S. Rajamouli Recalls How He Made MM Keeravani Practice His Oscars Speech: “He Would Feel Breathless”

Even a year after its Oscar win for Best Original Song, S.S. Rajamouli’s epic film, RRR, continues to receive praise and admiration. The celebrated director recently shared an amusing anecdote about music director MM Keeravani’s experience just before accepting the prestigious award.

Rajamouli recalled the story during a recent event in Japan, revealing that Keeravani had spent two weeks rehearsing his Oscar speech, only to blank out on stage. S.S Rajamouli shared, “One of the funniest things during the Academy Awards happened with my elder brother MM Keeravaani. He was nominated for the Best Original Song for Naatu Naatu. So, he was very confident about winning the award. In the Oscars Awards, they only give 45 seconds to deliver the speech. So, for him to get up from his chair and come up, he would feel breathless.”

Rajamouli further stated, “So, for about three weeks before the Academy Awards happened, we used to make him practice. We made him walk up to a place where there were stairs, wave his hands, and catch his breath before he could deliver his speech. And we always told him to walk slowly to avoid breathlessness and deliver his speech. He said ok. That is how he practiced all those three weeks.”

He then added, “But when it was announced that RRR won the coveted award, he forgot all the training. But luckily, he didn’t get breathless and managed to deliver his speech. He sang the song Top of The World. The next day, when we were back in our house and were really happy, Richard Carpenter sang the actual song with his daughters and paid tribute to my brother (M.M Keeravani). That was the time he cried”.”