Shah Rukh Khan gives a big virtual hug to 'RRR' & 'The Elephant Whisperers' teams on Oscar wins

Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan was thrilled beyond words to see India bag two Oscars at the 95th Academy Awards on Monday.

Taking to Twitter, the 57-year-old - who returned to the big screen after five years with Siddharth Anand's 'Pathaan' - gave a "big" virtual hug to the teams of 'RRR' and 'The Elephant Whisperers' and congratulated the winners.

He wrote, "Big hug to Guneet Monga & Kartiki Gonsalves for 'The Elephant Whisperers'. And, MM Keeravaani, Chandrabose, SS Rajamouli, Ram Charan NTR Jr - Thank you for showing us all, the way to do it. Both Oscars truly inspirational!"


Rajamouli thanked SRK for his kind words.


'Naatu Naatu', the pepping track from 'RRR', beat big names like Rihanna ('Lift me Up' from 'Black Panther: Wakanda Forever' and Lady Gaga ('Hold My Hand' from 'Top Gun: Maverick') to win the Best Original Song award. Music composer Keeravani and lyricist Chandrabose accepted the award on behalf of the 'RRR' team. Singers Rahul Sipligunj and Kaala Bhairava also performed the hit number on the Oscars stage.

'Naatu Naatu' became the first Telugu song to be nominated and win the Best Original Song title at the grand event.

Earlier in January, a day before the Golden Globes Award for 'Naatu Naatu', SRK had joked about hoping to touch the Oscar trophy when the 'RRR' team wins one. "When your 'RRR' team brings Oscar to India, please let me touch it," he wrote in reply to Ram Charan's best wishes for the theatrical release of 'Pathaan'.


In reply, Ram Charan said that the award belongs to Indian Cinema.

Set in the 1920s, the film is a fictional story about the lives of two Telugu freedom fighters - Alluri Seetharama Raju (Ram Charan) and Komaram Bheem (NTR Jr). The film, which also stars Alia Bhatt, Ajay Devgn and Shriya Saran, collected over Rs 1,200 crore worldwide.

Meanwhile, Netflix film 'The Elephant Whisperers' bagged an Oscar in the 'Best Documentary Short Film' category, beating 'Haul Out,' 'How Do You Measure A Year?', 'The Martha Mitchell Effect' and 'Stranger At The Gate'. Producer Monga and director Gonsalves accepted the award.

Replying to SRK's tweet, Monga said that the King Khan of Bollywood has been her source of inspiration. She wrote, "I derive ALL my inspiration from you Shah Rukh, sir. Hope to get a hug in person soon."

While 'The Elephant Whisperers' is Gonsalves's directorial debut, it marks Monga's second Oscar win after 'Period. End Of A Sentence' won in the same category in 2019.

The award for 'The Elephant Whisperers' is also the first-ever Oscar for an Indian production house - Sikhya Entertainment.

The story of 'The Elephant Whisperers' revolves around two caretakers who adopt two orphan baby elephants in Tamil Nadu's Mudumalai Tiger Reserve.

It's time to celebrate for Indian cinema.