Exclusive: Airlift director reacts to Akshay being snubbed at recent awards

There’s a growing breed of directors, who are increasingly unhappy with the way popular awards are being doled out. One of the most shocking omissions this year was Akshay Kumar’s nuanced performance in Raja Krishna Menon’s Airlift.

The director has finally spoken up about his hero’s absence from the awards lists. Says Raja, “Airlift got immense love from the audiences. Even today, a year-and-a-half after its release, it’s a film that is talked about. How many award-winning films can claim the same? I’ll prefer the love of the audience any day over the trophies that gather dust in some remote corner of one’s house.”

Akshay Kumar

Raja, who is ready with his next film Chef, starring Saif Ali Khan, says he would rather focus on his work. “Honestly, the only thing that I can control during the process of filmmaking is to try and do the best possible job of making the film. It’s best not to think about anything else,” he adds.

As for Akshay’s performance being ignored, Raja states categorically, “There’s no question about the quality of his performance in Airlift,” he asserts. “He’s simply brilliant in Airlift. Neither he, nor I — or for that matter the audience — needs to endorse his performance with an award. I don’t think it’s worth even thinking about it. I’d rather focus on my work, and I’m sure Akshay feels the same.”

Buzz is that Akshay was asked to attend and perform at a recently concluded international awards function. And when he expressed his inability to do so as he was shooting in London for Reema Kagti’s Gold, they reportedly chose to delete his name from the nominations.