In an industry where people hardly stand up  for the right cause and rarely speak the truth with utter honesty, what filmmaker Shekhar Kapoor has said is really thought-provoking! He might have been blunt with his words but what he has said is absolutely practical! Sridevi's name was announced today for the respectable National Award. Now in its 65th edition, the prestigious awards, has been conferred on the Mom actor. Here's what Shekhar Kapoor had to say about the news.

“The best actress is Sridevi for Mom and I promise you it is not my relationship with her. Every morning when I came here, I would ask everyone to vote once again. I would look at all the actors, talk about them and I would say, ‘there should be not Sridevi, not Sridevi’! We used take a vote and it always came back to Sridevi. It was me who fought that it shouldn’t be Sridevi. We are all emotionally involved with Sridevi. I used to say, ‘don’t give her an award because she died, it is unfair on the other girls’. They have also worked hard for 10-12 years, they too have a career.”

Mind you he is not demeaning the actress at all. He is just questioning the standards we adopt to confer accolades on someone. Kapoor had this to say when Sridevi died.  "You were the most exciting actress I ever worked with. Your energy on camera was scintillating. There was not a moment on screen that you did not have the audience in your grip. Be it an emotion, a comic moment, a dance. You were so innovative. You always did far far more than I asked of you . You were never less than surprising. As a human being you were incredibly supportive of those you were close to. I remember when everyone was going at me for a film that was threatening to fall apart .. you fought for me like a tigress. You were so loyal to your Directors.

It’s unbelievable that you passed," wrote Kapoor on Instagram!

This does make sense! It's one thing to mourn the death of a veteran actor and quite another to confer her an award just because she is no more. In a career spanning over four decades, Sridevi has done more than 300 films and she was the best at what she did.  She has earned a place in our collective minds for bringing the life and liveliness on the big screen. But giving her an award in her memory that too THE National Award, shows the case of poor judgement on the part of the jury! Now you tell us cinephiles--hasn't Shekhar Kapoor stated the fact as is?

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 13, 2018 08:47 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).