Nobody questioned when Amitabh Bachchan and Ajay Devgn won National Awards: Priyadarshan

Director Priyadarshan isn’t shy about igniting haters and controversy online. And in light of the recent debates going around about the winners of the 64th National Film Awards, he’s come back to bite stronger than ever.

Akshay Kumar’s win for Best Actor for his movie Rustom, while applauded on one hand, also received heavy criticism on the other and has inspired a variety of debates and discussions on social media platforms. While Kumar himself was highly appreciative of his achievement, Priyadarshan, in light of all the people doubting his win, decided to take a shot at other industry veterans like Amitabh Bachchan and Prakash Jha in order to justify Kumar’s win.

While talking to PTI, Priyadarshan said “I have heard of all that and I will answer it in a simple way. When Ramesh Sippy was jury head last year Amitabh Bachchan won. When Prakash Jha was head of the jury, Ajay Devgn won. So no one questioned at that time. So why all these questions are cropping up today,”

The director also clarified that Akshay Kumar’s performance in both his big films of 2016, Rustom and Airlift, were considered for the prize. However, since only one film could be mentioned, they decided to award it to him for Rustom.

“Akshay was given the best actor on the basis of his performance in two films — Airlift and Rustom. It was the jury’s decision. One performance was dramatic and one was realistic. But according to the rule book, only one film can be mentioned and Rustom was mentioned in the list. But the award recognises his performance in both the movies.” he concluded.

The director was highly active on social media following the announcement of the results of the ceremony on April 7, going up against people in support of Hansal Mehta for overlooking his acclaimed Aligarh, and calling out Aamir Khan, saying that there is no point in giving him a prize if he won’t even show up to accept it.

(With agency inputs)

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