Director A.R.Murugadoss had recently criticised the 64th National Film Awards saying the the Jury headed by veteran filmmaker-producer Priyadarshan was partial and the awards were biased. (Read: Shocking! A.R.Murugadoss not happy with National Awards 2016).

Though Murugadoss did not name which award made him feel the entire award process was biased, it is commonly understood that he like many other critics of the award was hinting at the Best Actor Award given to Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar for 'Rustom'. Akki had infact worked with Murugadoss in the past in 'Holiday' the Hindi remake of the Tamil blockbuster 'Thuppakki'.

It is commonly felt that Aamir Khan for 'Dangal' was the strong contender for the award for Best Actor but the panel overlooked him.

However Priyadarshan has reacted to these charges. He has said that Aamir Khan's name was not considered for the award because he skipped the National Awards distribution ceremony when he was selected as the Best Actor of 2008 for 'Taare Zameen Par'. Whereas Akshay Kumar was selected as the Best Actor for his best performance in 'Rustom' and 'Airlift' but as per the rule book only one film should be named for the best actor award.

Regarding A.R.Murugadoss's comment, Priyadarshan said Murugadoss would not have seen any film that received the award this year and he does not have any standing to comment on the awards.