Sanjay Leela Bhansali threw an impromptu bash Monday night at a Mumbai restaurant to celebrate his National Award win for Best Director ("Bajirao Mastani") with close friends from the industry. Deepika Padukone, who was one of the leads in the film, was missing from the scene despite being in town.
An industry insider told Mid-Day that the actress didn't attend the celebrations as she was unhappy that she had been snubbed at the 63rd National Awards. Deepika has been consistently picking up trophies for the performance in Shoojit Sircar's "Piku."
"Deepika may have decided to stay away from the party since she was upset over missing out on the Best Actress award – an honour that she had bagged at major film awards this year for Piku," the source further elaborated.
However, a friend contested the narrative saying that Deepika had been away from her family for quite some time and so she wanted to spend quality time with them before she jetted off to Toronto, Canada, where she has been shooting for her maiden Hollywood film — "XXX: The Return of Xander Cage" — with Vin Diesel. Her spokesperson also explained that the actress was in town just for a few hours and hence couldn't make it to the do.
Interestingly, Sanjay, who is elated at his win, would have liked it better had Deepika and Priyanka Chopra won too. "I am very happy for Kangana but as a director-producer, I wanted Priyanka or Deepika to win," he told the Press Trust of India.
Kangana Ranaut won the Best Actress Award for her dual turn in "Tanu Weds Manu Returns."
At the bash, Ranveer Singh and Shah Rukh Khan took to the dance floor, entertaining guests. Onlookers from the party told Mumbai Mirror how the young actor went around hugging guests and making sure they enjoyed their time. SRK, who was one of the last guests to leave, matched steps with industry peers to some of his old songs.
"Bajirao Mastani" was honoured with six national awards — Best Supporting Actress: Tanvi Azmi, Best Choreography: Remo D'Souza, Best Cinematography: Sudeep Chaterjee, Best Production Design: Shriram Iyengar, Saloni Dhatrak, and Sujeet Sawant, and Best Re-Recording: Justin Ghose — including Bhansali's win.
