Viveck Vaswani backs SRK's National Award win, Gowariker's integrity

India Today

2 days ago

On Friday, Shah Rukh Khan was announced as the recipient of Best Actor at the 71st National Awards for 'Jawan'. While his jubilant fans were excited to see him finally win the honour for the first time in his 33-year acting journey, many thought otherwise.A section of the audience felt that his performance in the Atlee-led film was not on par with others like Manoj Bajpayee in 'Sirf Ek Bandaa Kaafi Hai' and Prithviraj Sukumaran in 'Aadujeevitham: The Goat Life'. If that wasn't enough, jury chairperson Ashutosh Gowariker was also subjected to trolling for the same.advertisementIndia Today spoke to the actor-filmmaker Viveck Vaswani, one of Shah Rukh's oldest friends and collaborators, in discussions about his National Award win. Stating that cinema is always subjective, one cannot compare different performances in different characters.
"The only way to gauge the best performance would be when 10 actors play Richard III or King Lear, and you decide which was the best Lear. There is no basis for comparison. There is no objectivity. The jury felt that this was a relevant performance, worth the award. With due respect to Manoj, I think it was a very, very relevant performance, and it was a very relevant film also. I would have been equally happy for Manoj, since he is also a very close friend. But honestly, I was happier when Shah Rukh got it," Vaswani shared with a laugh.While speaking about Gowariker, whom he has known even longer than SRK, Vaswani said, "He is one person in the film industry whose integrity I cannot, and will never, doubt. Also, I want to say that when they give the award to Shah Rukh, they give it because they thought it was the best performance within the context of the overall performance."The filmmaker also discussed the noise around how Shah Rukh should have got this award for films like 'Swades' or 'Chak De! India', which many feel had his best performance. Vaswani chuckled, saying it reminded him of how actor Amitabh Bachchan did not win the Filmfare Award for 'Deewar' and 'Zanjeer', but got it for 'Don'."Who's to argue about that? He got it for 'Don' because, in that particular year, it was a great performance. Similarly, with Shah Rukh, 'Jawan' was a great performance. Honestly, for me, all his performances are great, though. Even the one in our first film together, 'Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman'," he went on. The film was the very phrase used by SRK when he replied to Vaswani's congratulatory note. The 'Jawan' actor wrote, "Thank u for the wishes. All started with you. Raju finally ban gaya gentleman (sic)."advertisementWhile many do credit the filmmaker for kickstarting SRK's career, he feels it was his hard work and passion that did the trick. Many would know that the actor stayed at Vaswani's house when he moved to Mumbai to work on films. The producer, here too, thanked his parents for letting a friend stay around."For me, it was never about giving Shah Rukh a film, it was about giving him a career. We worked together to have him work on films that could sell; only that could have led to him having an acting career. He was smart enough to also understand numbers, and hence started distributing his films so early on. He is a sharp and intelligent man, who hardly sleeps because he just works," Vaswani replied.And did they get a call post the announcement? He said, "It's really hard to get on a call with him since he's so busy working. But I will always wish him the best. And like his fans, I too feel it came late, but as they say, 'It's better late than never'."Shah Rukh's 'Jawan' was directed by Atlee and also marked the Bollywood debuts of actors Nayanthara and Vijay Sethupathi.- EndsTrending Reel