Dear Akshay Kumar, your National Award is well-deserved. Ignore the ‘liberals’ who have been rooting for Aligarh and Dangal

 

Dear Akshay,

I have been seeing some adverse reaction coming your way ever since your name was announced  as the winner of this year’s National Award in the Best Actor category. At first, I overlooked it as this has been the norm. The so-called liberals always have a problem when a massively successful commercial superstar is given the national award. But it really pained me to see you saying ‘take back my award if you feel like it’. I could sense your pain especially since the ‘liberals’ have once again ganged up to raise their disgusting chorus against your win and have been harping on social media on how either Manoj Bajpai and Aamir Khan should have the coveted award for their performances in Aligarh and Dangal respectively. To be honest, I feel your win was a well-deserving one and neither Manoj nor Aamir did anything greatly phenomenal to win the award over you. And I will argue the case on merits here.

Let’s talk about Manoj Bajpai. I will say he is a decent actor. Decent because he does every role given to him with decent conviction. But let me say this, none of his roles in recent memory has ever left an indelible mark on the audience. None. There are a few and make no mistake just a few who liked Aligarh. In this billion plus population, Aligarh was only liked by really a minuscule minority which includes the film critics who have never ever made a film in their life. Let me recollect a story. I was doing a public review of Aligarh at Gaiety Galaxy, a theater that usually sees housefull shows on Friday when a new movie releases. Aligarh was sparsely populated. I spoke to the little few who watched it and let me tell they were mighty disappointed. Except for one gentleman, none of the others liked it. The plot didn’t connect neither did the dialogues or performances. Manoj tried his best but audience felt the content had nothing in it to help Manoj build a prima donna performance. It essential was a life story that had nothing in it to be made into a movie. The movie was a colossal flop at the box-office. Now what about Manoj’s homosexual act? I thought it was yet another decent performance. Nothing historic. Did the film bring about change in the society. No, it didn’t.

On the other hand, the only homosexual performance that was brilliantly portrayed and thoroughly enjoyed(pun unintended) was the one played by Akshay Kumar in Dishoom. In an otherwise average movie, when movie goers exited, they only had words of praise for Akshay’s cameo. For the first time ever, audience love a homosexual portrayal that was neither sterotypically cheesy nor the cliched ones that Hindi movies have depicted till date. The role could have only been played by the inimitable Akshay Kumar. If you don’t believe me, take a look at the scene on Youtube and read the comments.

The first comment says says, ‘ I love Akshay Kumar, I really do. He nailed the character to the core. Just love him.” The comment says it all.

Now coming to Aamir Khan. He was not exactly the lead actor of the movie. He was more of a supporting lead. And in any case he is not keen on getting awards. So no point inviting him and with him not eager to attend the ceremony.

Also dear liberals, it’s time to accept the fact that Akshay today is more successful than Manoj. Both never had any godfathers and wherever they have made it today is because of their merit and talent. And yes, there is no shame in accepting the fact that Akshay today is a bigger star than  Manoj. Now you may ask is Akshay a better actor than Manoj. I would say yes. Akshay is very versatile. He is an ace action star which Manoj isn’t. Akshay is great at romance which again Manoj is not quite known for. Akshay is a brilliant dancer while Manoj has two left feet. Akshay is great at comedy whereas Manoj has not exactly cracked that genre well. Suffice to say Akshay is the complete entertainer, a complete actor who audience would flock to see in theatres.

And ‘liberals’ this is where your argument about whether Akshay was a deserving candidate to win the National Award should end.