72nd National Film Awards: Kabir Khan, Manoj Muntashir and Vijay Ganguly Celebrate Big Wins (EXCLUSIVE)

The 72nd National Film Awards sparked celebrations across the film industry as lyricist Manoj Muntashir and choreographer Vijay Ganguly reflected on their landmark wins, while director Kabir Khan praised Kartik Aaryan for winning the coveted award for his film "Chandu Champion."

Manoj Muntashir, who won the Best Lyricist Award for "Jaane Do" from "Maidaan," says, "This is my second National Award in the last few years. I feel proud. I've got this for lyrics, but I feel this is for the entire film. 'Maidaan' is a film that I'm very proud of. I remember writing this song at around 3 am at A. R. Rahman's studio in Chennai. When I shared the lyrics with him, he said, 'Manoj, this is your National Award.' I laughed, but he was serious. Boney Kapoor calls 'Maidaan' his 'Kaagaz Ke Phool.' I hope this song becomes a medium for people to discover the film wherever it is streaming on OTT. I hope they watch the film at least once. This is one of the finest pieces of cinema you'll ever come across. Director Amit Sharma has made a film that gets made once in a decade or so. I thank the jury, Boney Kapoor, Amit Sharma and A. R. Rahman."

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Opening up about the win, Vijay Ganguly, who won the award for the choreography of "Aaj Ki Raat" from "Stree 2", notes, "It is my first National Award. My father got the last one in 1975. He received two National Awards. We used to jokingly tell Dad that I would bring home the third one. My mother is extremely happy that the third National Award will be on her wall. My father got the first two for 'Kora Kagaz' and "Tapasya."

He also shares memories from filming the song with Tamannaah Bhatia. Vijay says, "We shot it in 5 degrees. So when you see the boys in the background, they were all dancing in that cold weather without shirts or shoes. How they managed that for three days, what they went through... Tamannaah danced in such cold weather wearing light clothes. Meanwhile, we were wearing three jackets each!"

He adds, "We shot this in Bhopal's interior areas, in a small bungalow. We had set up the whole set outside. It was insane because we had originally choreographed the song for girls. We had choreographed it for female dancers because the song has a lot of adaa (graceful expressions). Then (director) Amar Kaushik told us that not a single girl could dance in this song except Tamannaah, because Sarkata (the villain) abducts all the women. We were just three days away from the shoot! We wondered how to manage the situation because we had choreographed the entire background keeping the girls in mind."

Vijay states, "We sat down together and said, "'Why not get boys who can do all that adaa and graceful stuff?' When you look at the background, you can see them dancing so gracefully. I think they contributed a lot to the song, and that, I think, was the highlight of the song."

Reacting to Kartik Aaryan's win for "Chandu Champion" in the Best Actor category, Kabir Khan says, "I think it's fabulous. I'm not saying this because it's my film, but the kind of hard work he put in is unbelievable. There's a mindset that a mainstream actor doesn't put in the kind of work and preparation for a role, but Kartik Aaryan really gave one and a half years for body and mind transformation. He changed his whole way of living. We asked him to start living like an athlete, and he did. He learned the skills and the dialect, speaking like an old man, walking like international boxers and swimming without using legs. These are extremely difficult things to do, and I'm happy that it has paid off. 'Chandu Champion' is always going to be a special film for me. I'm happy that we brought the story of Muralikant Petkar to life. These are the kinds of stories we need to bring to life. And when it wins a National Award, we feel that we have done justice to Muralikant Petkar's story."

Opening up about Aaryan's journey from an outsider to a celebrated actor in the industry, Khan adds, "When a National Award is given, it says everything and shuts everyone up. He will be an inspiration to so many youngsters from small towns of this country, that you can be on your own terms without any producers or big camps, and make it on your own. I didn't know Kartik at all before I cast him in Chandu Champion, and I'm so glad he put in the hard work and earned this award. We're working on one more subject together."