6 Times National Awards Jury Made Real Bold Choices Of Winners

While the national awards jury has been on the receiving end of a lot of criticism for choosing nationalism over substance, it always hasn’t been the case. National Awards are mostly under the radar of controversy for it directly involves the running government and its ideologies. Anyway, while we do not have any qualms in the choices they have made, we turned the pages of history and studied the previous choices of winners.

Here are 6 times National Awards jury chose performers over nationalists and made bold choices:

Vidya Balan – Best Actress  for The Dirty picture

While the actress was downright fabulous in her portrayal of Silk Smita in the Milan Luthria starrer, you wonder if she would have really won the award had the film released last year. Back in 2012, the National Award jury had no doubts.

Rajkumar Rao – Best Actor for Shahid

The subject of the film was quite sensitive to a certain section of communities and raised serious allegations over the system itself. By picking Rajkumar Rao for the category, the jury gave us a pleasant surprise.

Raveena Tandon – Best Actress for Daman

Raveena Tandon as a battered wife who eventually kills her husband was picked as the best actress for her performance in Daman. While she super impressive with her performance, we doubt if the jury would have given her any importance today.

Tabu – Best Actress for Chandni Bar

In this bold Madhur Bhandarkar drama Tabu playing a reluctant bar dancer having been pimped by her own uncle finds her own way to happiness. The invigorating display of filmmaking was recognized by the National Award jury.

Kangana Ranaut – Best Supporting Actress for Fashion

Getting an award for playing a model who’s not just an addict but also mentally disturbed was perhaps possible in 2008 and not today. Even Priyanka Chopra won the Best Actress for the same movie.

Manoj Bajpai – Best Actor for Satya

Being a gangster and still winning the best actor award was maybe possible in the 90’s not today. While heroes try and include a positive angle even if it’s a crime movie, back then jury didn’t picked him as the best actor.

Good old days when National Awards Jury chose substance over nationalism!