Mumbai, Mar 26 (IANS): 'Naatu Naatu' hitmaker MM Keeravani tagged Ram Gopal Verma as his 'first Oscar' in an interview and talked about how the filmmaker gave him a breakthrough with the 1991 crime thriller film 'Kshana Kshanam'.

Keeravani in an interview had been asked about his breakthrough with the director, to which he replied: "Ram Gopal Verma was my first Oscar. Now I received the Academy Award in 2023, it is my second Oscar. Let me tell you why. Because like all the people I approach around 51 people, they might have... some of them might have thrown my audio cassette into the trash can... never heard me."

"A stranger approaches you and asks you to listen to his tune... some of them might have liked but they are not interested. But that was my merit."

He added: "Ram Gopal Verma gave me a chance to work for his movie 'Kshana Kshanam', but he was the 'Siva' Ram Gopal Verma... Siva played an Oscar role for him because it was his first movie being a mega-hit."

"And Ram Gopal Verma played an Oscar role in my career. He was my Oscar."

Keeravani added: "So, who is this Keeravani who is this person... you never heard of him. But Mr Ram Gopal Verma is working with him now. That must be something. Book him, come on! Let's have him for our project also. That's how Ram Gopal Verma's association helped me in getting more chances. That's how he helped me a lot."

Sharing the clip of the interview, Ram tweeted: "Hey a@mmkeeravaani I am feeling dead because only dead people are praised like this."

MM Keeravani's song 'Naatu Naatu' from SS Rajamouli's magnum opus 'RRR' brought the 95th Oscar Award in the Best Original Song category. The song has also won a Golden Globe honour and was also feted at the Critics Choice Award.