Filmmaker Vishal Bhardwaj today said that five wins for "Haider" at the 62nd National Film Awards has given him the confidence to keep treading the unconventional path by making movies of his choice.
The Kashmir-set modern adaptation of Shakespeare's Hamlet, starring Shahid Kapoor in the lead, won best music director and best dialogues honours for Vishal. Its other three wins were in the categories of best playback singer for Sukhwinder Singh ('Bismil'), best costume design and best choreography.
"It has been the most fruitful film in terms of both box-office and critical appreciation. It makes you more fearless now and it again reiterates the fact that I should just follow my heart and not look for other people's approval for my work," Vishal told PTI in an interview from Mumbai after the awards were announced here.
The 49-year-old director, whose previous National Awards win count is four, said he was not expecting any award so getting a bunch of them was a sweet surprise.
"At first, I could not believe my eyes and ears because I was not expecting that I will get even one award as you don't know what kind of movies are being made in the other parts of the country. So, when I heard first, second, third, fourth and fifth win I was in seventh heaven."
Vishal, however, lost the best director win to Bengali filmmaker Srijit Mukherji but he has no regrets.
"I believe one should be happy in what one gets and not be sad about the loss. I feel a bit for Shahid because his performance in the film was great but at the same time we don't know how the actor, who has received the award, performed. But I would have felt really good had Shahid won," Vishal said.
