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Akshay Kumar is officially a National Award Winner and will be conferred upon with Best Actor Award for ‘Rustom’ in a ceremonious way. While the Khiladi fans are rejoicing, a section of Twitterati is scorning upon the choice too. And one such allegation that’s surfaced was that since Priyadarshan (who has worked with Akshay on several occasions) was on the jury, it was but natural for Akki to bag the award (another nepotism charge!).
Reacting to it and clearing the air, the filmmaker slash juror, told Mumbai Mirror that people should stop questioning the decision.
“Akshay Kumar deserved the award and so we gave it to him. There were a total of 38 jury members with me on this. How can you question the decision of so many people? Ramesh Sippy headed the jury last year. When he gave Best Actor to Amitabh Bachchan for ‘Piku’ why didn’t anyone question him?”
The debate was on that there were worthier candidates for the award. Read Aamir Khan (Dangal), Amitabh Bachchan (Pink) and Manoj Bajpayee (Aligarh).
He also clarified that Akshay has been awarded keeping both his performances in ‘Airlift’ and ‘Rustom’ in mind.
“The jury considered him for both films but since the rules specify that he can only win for one film, we decided on ‘Rustom’.”
This awards season, Aamir Khan’s portrayal of Mahavir Phogat has won many awards and was said to be the more deserving contender for the National Award. Ask the filmmaker and he answers,
“Aamir recently said that he wouldn’t personally accept the award if he is given one. If I remember, Aamir didn’t attend the ceremony when he won the award for ‘Taare Zameen Par’ (The film bagged the National Film Award for Best Film on Family Welfare in 2008). So, why spoil it for some other actor who stood as good a chance of winning the award.”
Wait, what? They didn’t give Aamir the award because he wouldn’t be present in person to thank all? Is that one of the parameters to bag an award? Since when, though!? *thinks confused*
According to the juror, this year the regional films did far better than the Bollywood ones.
“This year regional films, the Marathi, Bengali and Malayalam films in particular, were far better than the ones made in Bollywood. Most of them were not just entertaining potboilers but touched on significant social issues too.”
What about Aligarh? It showed homosexuality realistically. He adds,
“Aligarh did not make it to the final list of 89 films, which the jury saw. That list had mostly regional films many of which were really good.”
Priyadarshan’s appointment as a jury member has been questioned, to that he said even Satyajit Ray’s appointment as a juror was questioned. So if that can happen, anyone else’s appointment can be questioned.
Well…!
Interestingly, haven’t you noticed that there’s just no mention of ‘Udta Punjab’? Is it just me or even you think that the jury didn’t even bother to acknowledge that gem of a film?
Source: Mumbai Mirror
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