Kabir Khan Says Shift from ‘Why Kartik’ to ‘He Deserves National Award’ for Chandu Champion Validates Him

Today is the one-year anniversary of Kabir Khan's Chandu Champion being released. The filmmaker charted the remarkable phoenix-like story of Paralympic champion and war hero Murlikant Petkar in the award-winning biopic. Kartik Aaryan, who portrayed Murlikant Petkar, received a lot of applause as well, too, even noted as one of the best performances of his career. Kabir Khan, filmmaker of Chandu Champion, discussed with HT how when people heard about the casting of Kartik when the film was first announced, there was a lot of doubt, and after the release, everybody's opinions changed.

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Chandu Champion is still winning awards a year after its release, including four Best Actor awards for Kartik. A proud Kabir says, "I am really glad that the really incredible journey that Kartik had is being recognised. It validates my belief in him."

Reflecting on the journey of the film from its inception to the eventual reception, Kabir says, "I would always be questioned. People would ask me, 'Why do you want Kartik?' But in my entire career, I have always enjoyed doing that - putting people into roles they have never done before. People questioned me casting Katrina Kaif for New York, saying there are no songs and dances and whatnot. They wondered why I was doing Bajrangi Bhaijaan with Salman right after giving a huge action hit in Ek Tha Tiger. And people were not convinced by Ranveer's casting for 83. But in the end, they all worked. It's a director's intuition, maybe."

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But, despite the people's doubt around him, Kabir says he never second-guessed the belief he had in his main actor. "It wasn't an overnight decision, but made over a series of meetings. I had seen very little of his work, but I liked the boyish innocence in him and his attitude. That worked for this role. And then he threw himself into prep for over a year," he explains.

Kabir states he has heard the rumors since Chandu Champion from fans on their online forums and now that it is gaining steam, he has heard about the conversation concerning Kartik winning a National Film Award for Chandu Champion. "If not this performance, then what?" he says matter-of-factly, adding, "It's the portrayal of a man that genuinely moved every person who saw this film. And I am not saying it because it's my film. But genuinely, anyone who watched Chandu Champion was moved to tears by it. I continue getting messages from people who keep discovering this film, saying, 'Oh my God! We had no idea that Kartik had this in him.' At the end of the day, if the National Award is for a performance that moved the whole country and brought this great hero back to the national consciousness, then he is definitely a serious contender."

The film also included Bhuvan Arora, Vijay Raaz, Yashpal Sharma, Rajpal Yadav, Aniruddh Dave, Shreyas Talpade, Sonali Kulkarni, and more. The film is currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

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