Akshay Kumar has won his first National Award for Best Actor for his 2016 film Rustom. The 2016 crime thriller was highly acclaimed for the screenplay and Akshay's role. Written by Vipul K Rawal, directed by Tinu Suresh Desai and produced by Neeraj Pande, the film was missing from Filmfare Best Actor Category nominations leading to outrage by Akshay Kumar's fans.
National Film Award win is a good comeback for Akshay over the omission by Filmfare. Elated by the news, Akshay posted a video message for fans on Instagram:
Neerja also won at the 64th National Film Awards. Sonam Kapoor received a special mention for Neerja, which was named Best Hindi Film. Aniruddh Roy Chowdhury's Pink won Best Film for social causes. Dangal's Zaira Wasim has won Best Supporting Actress.
Bisarjan won Best Bengali Film, Dashakriya was named Best Marathi Film, and Reservation won Best Kannada Film.
Nagesh Kukunoor's Dhanak won Best Children's Film. Ajay Devg's Shivaay won the award for Best Special Effects.
Uttar Pradesh was named the Most Film Friendly State, Jharkhand got a special mention in this category.
