National Award Score For Bhansali: 4

Sanjay Leela Bhansali received his fourth National Award recently for his film Bajirao Mastani and he feels that this is of ultimate satisfaction. The director who was honoured with the same for “Best Feature Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment” for Devdas, starring Shah Rukh Khan, Aishwarya Rai, Madhuri Dixit, and Jackie Shroff, in 2002 and Mary Kom, starring Priyanka Chopra and Darshan Kumar in 2014; he received the National Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi for Black in 2005 starring Rani Mukherji and Amitabh Bachchan. This time around Bajirao Mastani featuring Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone, and Priyanka Chopra won him the “Best Director” award. The film had won most of the awards at the major award shows and was also a turning point for the on-screen Bajirao Ranveer Singh. When quizzed about the award, he says that the National Award is an evident to the fact that the film has created an impact and that is his only intent. His films are known for his grand sets and beautiful music and he likes to keep it raw and Indian- he likes to show the richness of Indian culture and art. He feels that his work is not grand- it is the roots that has been reflected in the form of Cinema. He has received all kinds of- good, bad, ugly-feedbacks which are at times helpful but he always prefers to make the films that he want to, not what he ‘has to’. The negative comments are also reactions- so if the audience is reacting, it means that they are seeing his work and the purpose is served.