Filmmaker SS Rajamouli says he is thankful to the people of Ukraine for playing an immense part in the creation of the iconic song ”Naatu Naatu” from his Telugu period action epic ”RRR”. ”Naatu Naatu”, composed by MM Keeravani, is nominated for the Best Original Song award at the upcoming Oscars. Rajamouli said they were originally supposed to shoot the song in India but due to the monsoon season they had to zero in on an new location — the Presidential Palace of Kyiv. ”The first thing that comes to my mind when we talk about ‘Naatu Naatu’ is the location itself. It is shot in Kyiv, actually the Presidential Palace.This was actually supposed to happen in India but because it was monsoon time then, we were scouting for locations and we found this location. ”I thought I would have to look for some other location as it was the Presidential Palace, but they said ‘It is Ukraine, you can get the job done.’ I’m so thankful to the Ukranian team. The colours of the palace, the size of the palace, the size of the ground for the dancers to be there was the exact right size,” the filmmaker said in an interview with Vanity Fair magazine.
