Priyadashan, the jury head for 64th National Film Awards is mired in controversy for selection of Akshay Kumar as Best Actor leaving Aamir Khan for ‘Dangal’ and Manoj Bajpayee for ‘Aligarh.’ When media tried to pull a reaction from Priyadarshan, his defensive answer is really foolish.
‘There were a total of 38 members in the jury along with me? How can you question the decision of so many people? When Ramesh Sippy was the head last year, they gave Amitabh Bachchan Best Actor for Piku. Why no one questioned them? We thought Akshay Kumar deserved the award and so we offered it to him.
At the same time, Aamir Khan never accepted these awards. He recently said that he would not personally accept the award if given one. He did not attend the Awards ceremony in 2008 when ‘Taare Zameen Par’ was given Best Film on Family Welfare. Why to spoil (the award) when there is another actor standing a good chance,’ Priyadarshan said.
Accepting or rejecting the award should be left to Aamir’s personal conscience. Letting the National Award go for Akshay Kumar at the just reason of Aamir’s disinclination for awards is a loathsome answer from Priyadarshan.