"Rajkummar Rao should have won National Award for Best Actor"
'Newton' director Amit V Masurkar is disappointed that Rajkummar Rao has not been conferred with a National Award for his performance in the film. The highly acclaimed film had Rao essaying the role of a government clerk responsible for conducting fair and free elections. 'Newton' bagged the Best Hindi Film trophy while its actor Pankaj Tripathi was given a special mention.
Expressing his dismay, Masurkar said, "I definitely feel Rajkummar should have been awarded, he has done a brilliant job not only in 'Newton' but also in 'Trapped', 'Bareilly Ki Barfi'. "But, I don't think he holds such expectations. He is someone who does his work and moves on. He has worked on four-five films after Newton," he added.
"It feels very good. We are very happy that 'Newton' got the best Hindi film award. Thank you jury and people for the love. Also, we are happy that Pankaj ji got special mention. I did speak to him and he's very happy," said Masurkar.
Rao had received a National Award for his stellar act in 'Shahid' (2013). The film was directed by Hansal Mehta. This year, Riddhi Sen triumphed the 'Newton' star and walked away with the Best Actor trophy for his performance in the Bengali film 'Nagarkirtan'. On a related note, 'Newton' was India's official entry to the Oscars 2018 in the Best Foreign Language Film category.
