Priyanka Chopra Sad as 'Barfi!' Loses National Film Award after Failed Oscar Entry

Priyanka Chopra starrer "Barfi!" failed to impress the jury members of the National Film Awards on Friday.

"Barfi" directed by Anurag Basu swept many awards this year including seven Filmfare trophies, but it failed to get in the achievers' list even once at the 60th National Film Awards. Priyanka, lead actress of film, was disappointed that it missed out an award.

On Monday, Priyanka was at the launch of her first item song "Babli Badmaash" when reporters asked her about film not getting any National Awards.

"I feel bad, ofcourse I feel bad that 'Barfi' did not get recognized at the national award. But then it is up to the jury why they did not give the award," the actress told reporters.

She did, however, express happiness for her cousin Parineeti getting a Special Mention for her role in "Ishaqzade".

"I am happy for her. Now, in the Chopra family, there are two national awards. The whole day I had to explain what special mention means!" said Priyanka.

The 30-year-old star had bagged a National Award in 2008 for her role of a troubled model in Madhur Bhandarkar's "Fashion".

Her latest release last year, "Barfi!" is a romantic comedy in which she played an autistic girl. The film also features Ranbir Kapoor as a dumb and deaf boy and southern star Ileana D'Cruz, who also took on the role as the narrator.

The film received critical acclaim and was also a box office hit.

It was also selected as India's official entry to the Oscars 2013 in the foreign film category. Soon after its selection for the Oscars was announced, the film was mired in controversies.

First, the jury's decision in nominating "Barfi!" for the Oscars' race had sparked debate as other great films like "Paan Singh Tomar", "Gangs of Wasseypur", "Kahani", Marathi film "Deeol" and Malayalam film "Akashthinte Niram" were not taken into consideration.

Shortly after that, Anurag Basu was accused of copying several important scenes from Hollywood and Bollywood movies. 

Several bloggers even posted scenes from films like "The Adventurer", "City of Lights", "The Notebook" and "Singin' in the Rain" which were strikingly similar to the ones in "Barfi!"

Even the background score resembled that of 2001 film "Amelie". But the director maintained that "Barfi! is completely original."

Despite the excellent performances from Ranbir and Priyanka, the allegations on the film could be cited as one of the reasons on why it failed to get recognition at this year's National film awards.