Aamir Khan (L) in Dangal and Akshay Kumar (R) in Rustom
Highlights
- Final choice for Best Actor was down to Akshay Kumar and Mohanlal
- National Awards jury re-watched Dangal and judged it lacking
- Priyadarshan chaired the National Awards jury
New Delhi: Akshay Kumar's National Award win has raised more than a few eyebrows on social media. Twitter is asking itself why the National Awards committee deemed
Akshay's performance as a naval commander accused of murder in Rustom superior to that of Aamir Khan's as a middle-aged wrestler in
Dangal. While announcing the National Awards in New Delhi on Friday, jury chairman Priyadarshan revealed that the final choice for Best Actor was down to Akshay Kumar and Mohanlal, who received a jury award. Akshay, it appears, was awarded for his body of work in
Rustom and
Airlift, specifically his "range from playing a real life character and doing a tailor-made role." Priyadarshan also revealed that the jury re-watched
Dangal and judged it lacking. "I recalled
Dangal saw it again but it missed because the regional films were brilliant," he said.
That now hallowed weight gain and then loss on Aamir Khan's part did not impress either. "It's not just someone looks right for the character, we cannot call him Best Actor. Mohanlal and Akshay have survived for so long, we thought it's good encouragement," Priyadarshan said.
Twitter is filled with as many posts asking why Aamir Khan was ignored as there are congratulating Akshay Kumar. Manoj Bajpayee's performance in
Aligarh has also been cited as more National Award-worthy.
Some tweets have joined dots between Akshay Kumar and Priyadarshan, who directed him in films like
Hera Pheri, Garam Masala and
Bhagam Bhag.
Just a couple of months ago, Twitter was outraging on behalf of Akshay Kumar, when the Filmfare Awards nominees were announced - Akshay was very conspicuous by his absence in the Best Actor category, which included Salman Khan's performance in
Sultan. Aamir Khan, who famously does not attend award shows, won.
Dangal, one of 2016's biggest critical hits, scored a sole win at the National Awards - 16-year-old Zaira Wasim won Best Supporting Actress. Aamir's performance as an ageing, pot-bellied former wrestler and autocratic father of two daughters he trains in his own sport was widely hailed as his career-best work.
Dangal had a record-shattering run at the box office.