Following its momentous Golden Globes victory last week, SS Rajamouli's enduring hit RRR has been generating buzz on the awards circuit, most recently taking home two Critics Choice Awards. RRR's chances at the Oscars 2023 are undoubtedly looking good.
The Telugu blockbuster won the Critics Choice Award for Best Foreign Language Film as well as Best Original Song for Naatu Naatu on Monday (January 16). The visionary director delivered an inspiring speech during the event, thanking all the women in his life and ended with gratitude for his motherland, India.
Before he began his speech, Rajamouli gestured offstage asking whether he had “only 30 seconds” for his speech, gathering a few laughs.
However, the throwaway line, meant as a jest, stemmed from the dreaded speech interruptions that plagued earlier award ceremonies that continued long-standing award show custom. The shared contempt for the annoying speech interruptions that seemed to be prevalent at most events isn’t a first for team RRR.
For the uninitiated or those who missed the live ceremony (it's the Globes, so it isn’t much), award show winners are frequently signalled to end their speeches by music in the middle of them in order to keep up with crowded broadcast schedules.
The music frequently starts frustratingly early and gets louder and louder until the winner's comments are completely drowned out.
A prime example is this year's Golden Globe winner for Best Original Song, RRR's MM Keeravani, who was overwhelmed by the interfering music and distracted during his moment on stage while accepting the award for Naatu Naatu.
Despite being deemed necessary by the studios, the practice of these disrespectful interruptions detracts from the effort and commitment of the people being honoured. They are frequently carried out in the name of keeping to schedule, but are oblivious to the implications of these interruptions.
The award ceremonies are a celebration of the community, the field, the art, and the craft in addition to the individual. Interrupting a winner while they try to express their joy, appreciation, and all the million other emotions that are racing through their minds is incredibly rude and conveys that their moment and effort aren't recognised.
To know more about how the speech interruptions bedevilled the Golden Globes 2023, check out: Golden Globes cut MM Keeravani's RRR speech and it is high time they stopped the interruptions