Elon Musk joins Naatu Naatu craze as Tesla cars light up for Oscar-winning song

Elon Musk responded to the video, shared on Twitter, with two heart emojis. AFP

A video showing Tesla cars lighting up and dancing to the Oscar-winning Telugu song Naatu Naatu has gone viral and received a stamp of approval from Elon Musk himself.

In the video posted on Twitter on Tuesday, 150 Tesla cars can be seen lining up and forming the letters RRR, the title of the record-breaking film which features Naatu Naatu. Using an already existing feature in the electric cars called Tesla Light Show, the vehicles then lit up, grooving to the beats of the hit song composed by M M Keeravani and written by Chandrabose.

The video, which was first shared by RRR’s official Twitter account, has been viewed more than 2.2 million times, and was soon noticed by Musk who responded to it with two heart emojis.

The feat was put together in New Jersey in the US by Tesla Light Shows, an independent social media account dedicated to the car’s unique light feature, and also a resource where users can download files featuring the latest songs.

Tesla’s light show feature allows owners to create a show or sequence with their car’s lights. The feature was first introduced during Christmas in 2021.

“Truly overwhelmed by this tribute to #NaatuNaatu from New Jersey! It was a stunning show,” tweeted RRR director S S Rajamouli, who also shared another video of the show, taken from a different angle.

Naatu Naatu made history at the 95th Academy Awards earlier this month when it won Best Original Song, marking the first time a song from an Indian-made film has ever won at the awards.

RRR, which can be watched on Netflix in the UAE, was one of the biggest cinematic success stories of last year.

Written and directed by Rajamouli, the action epic is a fictional retelling of Alluri Sitarama Raju (played by Ram Charan) and Komaram Bheem’s (N T Rama Rao Jr) friendship and their battle against the British Raj.

It’s one of the most expensive Indian films ever made, with a reported budget of 5.5 billion rupees ($67.6 million), although it’s already collected more than 12 billion rupees ($147 million) at the global box office.