Here’s what Priyadarshan has to say on why a National Award was not given to Aamir Khan

Yesterday, the National Film Awards were announced and Bollywood shined through the awards. Movies like ‘Neerja’, ‘PINK’ won awards for the message it delivered while actor Akshay Kumar won the Best Actor Award for ‘Rustom’. Akshay and his fans are on cloud nine, but many people were of the opinion that Aamir Khan‘s act in ‘Dangal’ was more deserving than Akshay Kumar’s act in ‘Rustom’. The jury’s decision to choose Akshay over Aamir has upset certain section of the audience. (Also Read: Twinkle Khanna’s reply on Akshay Kumar’s big win at the National Awards is too cute)

So, filmmaker Priyadarshan, who was a part of the jury, gave a clarification on why Aamir was not given an award. Speaking with Mumbai Mirror, the director said, “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.”

He further added, “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?” Oh okay!

Actress Sonam Kapoor also won an award for ‘Neerja’ in the special mentions category while Zaira Wasim won an award for ‘Dangal’ in the Best Supporting Artist category.

Prajakta Ajgaonkar

Passionate about writing, and a Bollywood lover, she is all that is sweet and endearing! She desires to put her best foot forward in everything that she does and loves to help anyone who’s in need.