Manoj Bajpai, Kangana Ranaut win National Awards

Manoj Bajpai  who is  at home recovering from COVID-19 has some news  to cheer him  up. He has been awarded the  National Award for  best actor for his performance  in  Bhonsle

Playing the retired  cop Ganpath Bhonsle Bajpai, in another sterling  performance,  takes on  the role of an unlikely hero, as he protects a young Bihari girl and her kid-brother  from the wrath  and  disdain  of  a  political henchman who want to use  the  ‘Marathi Manoos’ card to send  all migrant labourers  back to  Bihar.

Bajpai’s character  of  the gruff dying  cop who finds a reason to live  in protecting  the  violated siblings, is  a large cliché, deconstructed and rejuvenated  by Bajpai’s deeply nuanced pain-lashed  performance. This is a man who has  nothing to lose, who decides he  might as well go with a bang rather than  wither in his  shanty room with a whimper. Manoj Bajpayee anchors  the proceedings with a  portrayal that is  in many ways  the opposite of a performance. No  dramatic high points are created to  accentuate  the  performance.”

Manoj shares  the  National award  with Dhanush  for his primeval performance  in  Asur.

Kangana Ranaut  has the National award for her performance in Manikarnika and  Panga. How  does  one  win one award  for two performances?  Coincidentally Panga director  Ashwini Tiwari’s husband Nitesh Tiwari’s  Chhichhore has  won  the National  award  for Best Hindi Film. Which is  to say  it was  a better film than Anubhav Sinha’s Article  15 which in my opinion is  the best Hindi film of  the last 3 years.