Ever since the National Film Awards were declared and the news of Akshay Kumar winning the best Actor award for his performance in ‘Rustom’ came out, there have been some mixed reactions. A lot of people were happy for him but some people also expressed their disappointment with the jury’s decision.

Aamir Khan’s performance in Dangal was considered among the top performances of last year and it was surprising the actor didn’t receive the award for it. A lot of people were curious about that and now filmmaker Priyadarshan, who is on the jury, has finally answered the question. While talking to Mumbai Mirror, he 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.”

© Aamir Khan Productions

Not a satisfactory answer, to be quite honest. So, the basis of winning the award is apparently showing up and not actual acting skills. No offence to Akshay Kumar, but if the only reason he won the award is because Aamir Khan doesn’t attend these events, is not exactly fair, to both of them.

© Zee Studios

Trying to further justify the decision, Priyadarshan 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?”

Who do you think was more deserving – Aamir or Akshay?