On August 9 the winners of National Film Awards 2019 were announced, and the winners’ name was announced by Rahul Rawail, head of the jury for Feature Films. This was the 66th edition of the National Film Awards and the jury picked the best, but the results did not go down well with fans of Indian cinema, especially Mammukka fans. Many were expecting that Malayalam actor Mammootty would bag the Best Actor Award for his brilliant performance in Peranbu, however that did not happen. This irked many fans and they ended up bashing this year’s jury of National Film Awards. Now Rahul Rawail has claimed that Mammootty has apologised to him for fans backlash, but he deleted the post later for unknown reasons.

Rahul Rawail took to Facebook and sent a message to Mammootty mentioning how his fans have sent out hatred message. Fans flooded social media pages with anger using hashtags #JusticeForMammootty and #PeranmbuDeservesIt. The jury’s decision was slammed by fans big time and also the actors who bagged the prestigious trophy, were bashed by Mammukka fans. After sending the message to Mammootty via Facebook, Rahul Rawail later deleted the post.

The Hindu mentioned in its report about the message sent to Mollywood superstar by Rahul Rawail. “Message sent by me, as Chairman of the Jury of 66th NFA, to Mammooty: ‘Hi Mr.Mammoty. There has been a lot of ‘hate mail’, that too extremely nasty, that I have been receiving from your fans, or so-called fan clubs, as to why you were not given the National Award as Best Actor for the film ‘Peranbu’. Let me set the record straight: Firstly, NOBODY HAS THE RIGHT TO QUESTION A JURY DECISION. Secondly, your film ‘Peranbu’ had been REJECTED by the Regional Panel and hence did not contend in the Central Panel. Your fans and/or devotees should stop fighting a lost cause. Never question a Jury!”

Rahul Rawail later posted a message (the reply that he claims) from Mammootty, apologising for the behaviour of his fans; this was again deleted by the former. It read, “Reply from Mammootty: ‘Sorry sir. I have no knowledge about it. Still, I apologize for what had happened’.” In Peranbu, Mammootty played the role of a single father to a 14-year-old daughter, who is a spastic child.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 12, 2019 05:02 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).