Oscar wins for the movie ‘RRR‘ and documentary ‘The Elephant Whisperers’ brought members across party lines together in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday, with the House spending the first hour in applauding the achievement. However, it was back to brickbats immediately after the discussion and the House was adjourned twice without conducting any legislative business.

Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar began the day’s proceedings with a mention of the Oscar wins for best original song for “Naatu, Naatu” in the Telugu movie ‘RRR’ and the best documentary short film for ‘The Elephant Whisperers’. He described this as a “moment of glory for us”.

“The wins mark a new recognition of the full spectrum of cinema that India produces. This will further the internationalisation of India’s film industry. These achievements reflect global appreciation of the vast talent, immense creativity and committed dedication of Indian artists, indeed another facet of our global rise and recognition,” Dhankhar said.

Leader of the House Piyush Goyal underlined that the documentary has been made by two eminent women. He said that it deals with sustainability. Several members who paid rich tributes also mentioned that the writer of the movie ‘RRR’ is VV Prasad, a nominated member of the Rajya Sabha.

Leader of the Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge took potshots at the government while welcoming the wins. “It is a great pride for us (sic). We are very proud and whatever you have told us, we are with you. But my only request is that the ruling party should not take credit that ‘we have directed it, we have written the poem’… ‘Modiji has directed this film’. They should not say (all) that.”

Some members from the creative field also praised the achievement. Actor-turned-politician Jaya Bachchan emphasised that this should not be seen as an achievement of any particular region but the country. Danseuse Sonal Mansingh informed about the genesis of the term Naatu, Naatu and hailed the wins.

Members who spoke underlined various aspects of the wins – that the documentary was made by women, deals with the environment and elephants, that RRR is a Telugu movie which has proved the mettle of Indian vernacular cinema on the global stage, the rise of OTT and so on.Some Opposition members pointed out that this is not the first Oscar win for any Indian movie as claimed by some BJP supporters. John Brittas (CPM) lamented that the contribution of the media and entertainment industry in India is less than 1% while in some nations it is up to 4%. He charged that there is a lot of censorship in India and the number of people feeling offended by a movie is rising.

As tributes ended, the House witnessed slogan shouting from both sides on Rahul Gandhi’s remarks during his recent UK visit. The Opposition also wanted to raise issues such as alleged misuse of ED and CBI against opponents, the demand for a JPC probe on Adani-Hindenburg issue and the situation on China border.

Amid the din, the House was adjourned till 2 pm. When it resumed, environment minister Bhupendra Yadav backed Goyal in seeking an apology from Gandhi. As Kharge moved to counter this, Dhankhar adjourned the House for the day.