National Film Awards 2021: 'Sushant Rajput made us proud,' says 'Chhichhore' director

Late actor Sushant Singh Rajput's hit film Chhichhore was awarded as the Best Hindi Feature Film at the 67th National Film Awards 2021 ceremony, which took place in New Delhi on Monday, after being delayed on several occasions last year because of the Coronavirus pandemic. The film's helmer Nitesh Tiwari received the award and dedicated it to Sushant. He said that the late actor 'made us proud.'

Chhichhore director: 'Sushant made us proud'

Speaking about the late actor Sushant Singh Rajput, Chhichhore director Nitesh Tiwari said, "Sushant is an integral part of our film. He made us proud. We are dedicating this award to him."

The film's producer, Sajid Nadiadwala had taken to his Instagram handle and penned a sweet note remembering the MS Dhoni star. He wrote, "On the behalf of NGE I dedicate this extremely prestigious award to Sushant Singh Rajput. We can’t get over his loss ever but I sincerely pray that this award gives a little bit of happiness to his family and fans which includes me. And I am tremendously grateful to Nitesh Tiwari for giving us all this very special movie."

Chhichhore was released on September 6, 2019, and marked Shraddha Kapoor and Sushant's first collaboration. Prateik Babbar, Varun Sharma, Siddharth Narayan, Tahir Raj Bhasin, Prashant Narayanan, and Tushar Pandey played supporting roles in the film. Inspired by Tiwari's years at IIT-Bombay, Chhichhore garnered immense acclaim and worked wonders at the box office. It was also one of Rajput's most celebrated performances, as a sincere college student and then an understanding father to a son who tries to commit suicide under pressure to score good grades.

Sushant Singh Rajput died in June 2020. Chhichhore was his last commercially successful and critically acclaimed film that crossed the ₹100-crore mark. The film was Sushant's biggest hit ever. 

As for other award winners, Kangana Ranaut earned her National Awards for Best Actor for her performances in two films- Manikarnika, and Panga. Manoj Bajpayee and Dhanush received Best Actor National Awards for their roles in Bhonsle and Asuran- Hindi, and Tamil films. Asuran was also awarded Best Tamil Film. 

Image: Facebook/@shraddhakapoor