Rani Mukerji admits it hurt not winning National Award for Black: ‘It broke my parents' hearts'

Rani Mukerji celebrated 30 years in cinema, reflecting on her career and the pain of not winning a National Award for Black.

Bollywood actor Rani Mukerji completed 30 years in cinema this year. To mark the milestone, the actor sat down for a conversation with filmmaker and close friend Karan Johar at an event in Mumbai. During the discussion, Rani admitted that she was deeply hurt when she did not win the National Award for Black, even as Amitabh Bachchan and Sanjay Leela Bhansali took home honours for the film.

Amitabh Bachchan and Rani Mukerji's still from Black.

Rani Mukerji on losing National Award for Black

Rani said, “It broke my father’s heart, it broke my mum’s heart. I think the way I have conducted my career and my life since I was a teenager, I started off as an actor because my mum asked me to become one, I realised that through the work I could do, I could probably give my parents a better life and see them happy and comfortable. That was my dream for a few years, and that’s why I kept working in films.”

She revealed that it was through fan mail that she realised audiences believed in her work and that she needed to give back with better roles, films and performances. She added that her aim became to make her audience happy and to do her best for her films and directors — something she continued to do even without awards.

Rani admitted that not winning the National Award had hurt, but noted that it happened for the best. She said, “Because my goal was not to win an award so that it makes me happy today. I think winning an award is about the recognition that the whole team gets. When you are recognised, the team and the audience feel elated. It does hurt not getting the award. But it’s good that it happened because very early in my life I realised that despite doing your best work, you might not get the appreciation you deserve, and probably somebody else’s performance is better than yours. You just have to keep striving for the best.”

The 2005 film Black won the National Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi at the 53rd National Film Awards, while Amitabh Bachchan won the National Award for Best Actor for his performance in the film. Featuring Ayesha Kapur, Shernaz Patel and Dhritiman Chatterjee in supporting roles, the film received critical acclaim and emerged as a commercial success. Rani won her first National Award last year (2025) for her performance in Mrs Chatterjee vs Norway.

Rani Mukerji’s upcoming film

Rani is currently awaiting the release of her upcoming film, Mardaani 3. Helmed by Abhiraj Minwala, the film also stars Janaki Bodiwala and Mallika Prasad in key roles and is scheduled to release in theatres on January 30.