“We’ve just won five more awards,” says an elated MM Keeravani minutes after trumping the Hollywood Critics Award

M M Keeravani is undoubtedly the global phenomenon of the moment. After winning a slew of awards in the US in January, he is back in the US to win another truckload of awards for his song ‘Naatu Naatu’ in Rajamouli’s RRR. Just a while ago Keeravani did it again.

He was on the phone speaking to me. “We’ve just finished attending the Hollywood Critics Association Awards in Beverly Hills. We’ve just won five awards for best original song, best action film, best stunts, best foreign film, and the spotlight award.”

When he says “we”, I wonder who else was there? “Myself, Rajamouli, Ramcharan and our RRR DOP (director of photography) Senthil Kumar. We are all in a celebratory mood right now. But it is late. And I am tired.”

How does it feel for Keeravani? “It gets more and more unreal. With every awards that we get it feels like we’ve exceeded all our expectations. Now as we inch towards the Oscar, I am more confident than ever that we will bring it home.”