India is having a big moment at the 95th Academy Awards, being held in Los Angeles with Jimmy Kimmel on his third outing as host.
The Oscars are stacked this year – Naatu Naatu from RRR is nominated for Best Original Song, All That Breathes and The Elephant Whisperers are up for Best Documentary Feature and Best Documentary Short respectively, and Deepika Padukone is attending as a presenter.
Deepika is the third Indian to present an Oscar after Persis Khambatta and Priyanka Chopra. Team RRR – including director SS Rajamouli and actors Ram Charan and Jr NTR - are at the awards and Naatu Naatu will be performed live during the ceremony – Rahul Sipligunj and Kaala Bhairava will sing, Lauren Gottlieb will dance.
There are several firsts among this year's slate of nods - all five Best Actor contenders are first time nominees, and a record four Asian actors have received acting nominations, among them Everything Everywhere All At Once's Ke Huy Quan who has swept this year's award season and won the Oscar as well.
His co-star Michelle Yeoh might be the first Asian winner of the Best Actress Oscar – or Cate Blanchett could win her third statuette. Also in the running is Andrea Riseborough whose controversial nomination was upheld by the Academy after a review. Jamie Lee Curtis won Best Supporting Actress and Steven Spielberg could win his fourth Oscar.
"Do you know how to Naatu? You are about to": Deepika Padukone, third Indian to present at the Oscars, introduced a rousing performance of RRR's viral track Naatu Naatu, nominated for Best Original Song
Deepika's intro was punctuated by cheers from the audience which gave the song a standing ovation.