Vicky Kaushal on not getting a National Film Award for Sardar Udham

Vicky Kaushal has said that he is not at all disappointed that he did not get the Best Actor’s award at the National Film Awards (for Sardar Udham) that were announced recently.

Talking to India Today in an interview, the actor said that taking the story to the world mattered the most to him and all the accolades that followed were just bonuses.

Vicky said that he felt wonderful that his film Sardar Udham bagged several National Film Awards, and added that it felt great to see the Hindi film industry and all sorts of genres being recognized as well as appreciated at the box office.

Asked if he felt disappointed about not receiving the National Award for himself, Vicky said, “No! The thing is that many times, when you get a film, and get to work with a director that you like, you think that’s where your dream has come true, which is genuinely true for Sardar Udham. I am not just saying for the heck of it. Being a Punjabi, that topic, that man, that story is very, very close to my heart.”

Vicky said that he knew Udham Singh’s story since childhood and wondered why more people don’t know about it. “We have been listening to this story since our childhood days and always used to wonder why not many people know about this. So, for me, to eventually get the opportunity was a big deal and, after that, what I got or didn’t get, everything was a bonus. For me, the story to reach the world, to get appreciated, to get resonated, that is everything. After that, for the film to get all the rewards are all bonuses. I don’t have any qualms,” he said.

Around the film’s release, Vicky Kaushal had told Hindustan Times in an interview that working on the film felt like going back to school, because of the way director Shoojit Sircar works. “I remember his one brief was ‘I want to understand the mindset of this person’. Not about his actions, but what he felt, what he had in his heart. That is what I wanted to give to our audience.”

He further said that we almost make martyrs as superheroes but Shoojit wanted a human person. It was important for Shoojit to make it very human, very achievable.” Vicky also recalled it was a “physically exhausting and emotionally numbing experience” to shoot the Jalianwala Bagh sequence for the film.