Ever since the National Film Awards 2023 were announced last Thursday, netizens and the members of the film fraternity have only been focusing on various aspects of this year's winners. While many netizens have been questioning the jury's choice to award films like The Kashmir Files, Shoojit Sircar has recently expressed that Vicky Kaushal deserved the coveted Best Actor award. 

In an interview with Mid-Day, the Sardar Udham director said, “Vicky undoubtedly deserved the Best Actor award. The way he transformed into Sardar Udham is commendable. We started with the Jallianwala Bagh sequence. The first shot was of Udham picking up [the dead] bodies, feeling the weight and pain. The set was witnessing that nightmare. That set the tone of the film. Vicky couldn’t sleep for nights, and carried that disturbance throughout other parts of the movie.”

It is to be noted that the Best Actor Award went to Allu Arjun for his performance in Pushpa: The Rise. The award created history as he became the first Telugu actor to win a National award for Best Actor. 

Meanwhile, Sardar Udham won awards for Best Costume Designer, Best Production Design, Best Audiography, and Best Cinematography, apart from winning Best Hindi Film.