Priyadarshan says Akshay Kumar deserved National Award for 'Rustom'

The 64th National Awards held in the country may have thrown a few surprises but the biggest one seems to be the Best Actor Award for Akshay Kumar for the film Rustom. Yes, the actor was appreciated for his role in the movie, but was his performance really the best, considering there was Aamir Khan in Dangal, Manoj Bajpayee in Aligarh and Amitabh Bachchan in Pink, who impressed one and all with their amazing performances.

In an interview given to Mumbai Mirror, filmmaker Priyadarshan, who was part of the jury, said that they felt that the superstar deserved the award and that is why they 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?" he was quoted as saying.

The filmmaker, who has worked on a number of films with Akshay, went on to clarify that he is not working on any movie with the actor at the moment. As for the confusion between which film did he really win the National Award for, Airlift or Rustom, Priyan said, "The jury considered him for both films but since the rules specify that he can only win for one film, we decided on Rustom."