Shah Rukh Khan is More Than Deserving of a National Award. Here's Why!
In an unexpected twist of events, Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan has won his first-ever National Award for Best Actor for the 2023 blockbuster Jawan. In addition to SRK, Vikrant Massey will also receive the Best Actor award for his outstanding performance in 12th Fail.
It didn't take much time for online chatter to grow over why SRK didn't deserve the Best Actor award for Jawan. Ranbir Kapoor, who played a complicated role in Animal, gets fans' votes for the Best Actor award. While fans are glad that Vikrant Massey got the biggest award possible for his efforts towards 12th fail, over the past few years, the National Awards jury has also been taking popular movies that crossed barriers and ended up being box office victories into account.
If box office performance and popularity at the time of release serve as any criteria, Jawan met both criteria. Just like Allu Arjun won the Best Actor National Award for Pushpa, which was the most popular film at the time of its release, Shah Rukh Khan might have also been chosen to follow that trend.
Shah Rukh Khan's Film Legacy is Paramount
The present moment is no time to talk about the records that Jawan had set at the box office. Even though it's tempting for audiences to view numbers as the only barometer, let's talk legacy for a while. After 33 years of entertaining audiences with movies across genres, this National award could be considered a token of appreciation from the Indian government for his contributions to cinema. He is recognized as one of the country's top stars.
There is also a legacy that he managed to create with the sheer number of movies that he experimented with. If Jawan might not be the perfect movie for Shah Rukh Khan to be receiving the Best Actor award, then there's a long list of movies for which he could have gotten the same but missed out on.
For instance, My Name is Khan. The film was muddled in controversy, and even though it did receive its due credit from the audiences once it was made available digitally, Shah Rukh Khan's portrayal as Rizwan Khan won over audiences's hearts across the globe. Even with movies like Chak De India, Swades, Devdas, and many more, Shah Rukh Khan cemented a place in the hearts of Indian cinema lovers such that they continued to expect excellent content out of him even when he was going through the worst phase of his career, post Chennai Express' hit.
All in all, there will always be reasons to be debated and discussed, but Shah Rukh Khan's contribution to Indian cinema over the past three decades cannot be ignored, and this National Award is proof of his eternal legacy that will continue to shine bright for years to come.
