Saif Ali Khan won the National Award for his 2005 film Hum Tum. However, in the many years since then, naysayers have questioned his win. Now, in a recent interview, Saif addressed the controversy and said that unlike what people like to believe, his mother Sharmila Tagore “did not get it” for him. The controversy arose after Saif’s win was announced as Shah Rukh Khan’s Swades and Hrithik Roshan’s Koi Mil Gaya were also in contention.
Saif, in an interview with Zoom, said that people think that he got the award because his mother, veteran actor Sharmila Tagore, was the Central Bureau of Film Certification (CBFC) chairperson at the time. He clarified that his mother had nothing to do with him winning the National Award and said, ” My mother didn’t get it for me. Because if my mother could give me stuff, then she would have given me much more. I guess she wouldn’t have been my mother if she had done this kind of a thing.”
He also shared how filmmaker Sudhir Mishra who headed the jury at the time told him why he got the award and not SRK. He said, “Sudhir Mishra who headed the jury that year, when he gave me the award said he’s giving it to me because of the ease of performance.” Saif also shared that when the awards were announced he was in London and was in “two minds” whether to attend or not to attend the awards ceremony but it was Sharmila who asked him to attended it nonetheless. He said that he did not want to attend because “there had been quite a lot of tumultuous ups and downs in my personal life.”
In an earlier interview with indianexpress.com, director Kunal Kohli also said that Saif was on a holiday in London when the award was announced. “When it was announced that he has won the National Award. Saif is like, ‘Should I go?’ I was like are you mad, please go! He said, ‘I am on a holiday in London. You think they would give me a ticket from London?’ We laughed and said they will give you a ticket from Mumbai to Delhi, not London to Delhi. Then he said, ‘Yes Ammi and Abbu are also saying that I should go’,” he said.
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