Akshay Kumar recently won the prestigious National Award for his terrific performance in Rustom. While the actor celebrated this with his Padman co-star Sonam Kapoor, who also happened to win an award for Neerja, his win didn’t go down too well with a bunch of people. The jury head Priyadarshan was accused of being partial to Akki because they’re friends and have worked together in the past. Priyadarshan was also criticised for overlooking Aamir Khan‘s performance in Dangal. The director spoke with Mumbai Mirror and cleared the air.
Akshay Kumar deserved the award and 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?
Akshay too came forward and responded to the controversy surrounding his win.
I have completed 25 years in the film industry and I’ve never called in a favour to bag a movie or an award. As for Priyadarshan favouring me, I think he has answered that question in your newspaper.
That’s fair. Tbh, I think he was fabulous in Rustom!