National Film Awards 2025 shocked everyone as Shah Rukh Khan finally won his first-ever Best Actor trophy in 33 years for Jawan, sharing it with Vikrant Massey, sparking big debates and controversies across Bollywood.
Just think, King Khan, known as the King of Bollywood, won the National Film Award for Best Actor for the first time in 33 years. And most importantly, the award was for a commercial film, Jawaan, and it was shared with another actor! This is the twist that is shocking everyone.
Untill now, National Film Awards have always been given to artistic or social-message films, films which have really added some value and given a message. Many of Shah Rukh’s films like Swades, Chak De India, My Name is Khan which had a very strong social connect SRK never got any award for them. People now raise this question that when his acting in those films was so top-notch, then why was ignored him at that time?
And if we look at it, Jawan was also not just a masala entertainer. The film raised many important questions and touched upon all the issues like corruption, farmers’ suicide, oxygen shortage, defence scam. Meaning, it was a combination of a commercial package + current affairs. Perhaps for this reason the jury also felt that now commercial films will have to be taken seriously.
SRK’s illustrious journey also saw a downfall because of the flop films in the last few years, the Aryan Khan controversy, and almost people were saying that his career was over. Then Pathan became a superhit, followed by Jawaan which broke the box office. And now finally, the award that was always missing in his career, the National Award, has arrived, everything is fine, and recently Aryan Khan’s debut directed web series The Bads of Bollywood has also captured the audience’s imagination and is being called the best series of 2025.
But a controversy also started that while SRK got the National Award, the same award was shared with Vikrant Massey for 12th Fail. Meaning, on one hand, a 33-year-old superstar, on the other hand, a young actor with a career spanning only 13 years, brought both of them to the same level.
Now the question is, was there no other actor in Bollywood deserving of this award apart from these two?
The most debate is going on about Ranbir Kapoor. His performance in Animal was considered a “career-best”, yet he was not given any award. Fans say that if Vicky Kaushal had been selected for Sam Bahadur, the pain would have been less. But completely ignoring Ranbir? That’s the real surprise.
Another major controversy surrounds the love story of Rocky and Rani. This film was given the “Best Film” award in a new category, which fans couldn’t digest at all. People are saying that the actual deserving film was 12th Fail, and giving this “special honour” to Rocky and Rani seems nothing more than politics.
South fans are also not left behind. They say that gems like Viduthalai and Malayalam film 2018 were ignored. 2018 was such a film that could have been sent to Oscars, but its name was not even considered properly in National Awards.
Another film that was completely ignored is OMG 2. A bold, educational and entertaining film that could have been watched with family as well. Fans say that OMG 2 should have been given the award for “Best Entertainer” by snatching it from Rocky Rani.
Pingback: How Aryan Khan Web Series Bads of Bollywood Revived Aanya Singh’s Career After YRF’s Big Setback