After Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub bagged a Septimius Award in the Best Asian Actor category for his performance in OTT show Scoop, filmmaker Hansal Mehta, who directed the series alongside Mrunmayee Lagoo Waikul, took to X to share a congratulatory message. Expressing his frustration about the delayed recognition of Ayyub’s performance, Mehta wrote, “You can’t keep a good man down. Congratulations @Mdzeeshanayyub for this much-delayed but very richly deserved award. This one’s for all those juries that chose to ignore your stellar performance... (sic).”

Reacting to Mehta’s post, Ayyub tells us, “It was Hansal sir who informed me about my nomination. Initially, I was planning to attend the awards as well. But as I got busy and received no further updates, I assumed nothing had come of it.”

Resonating with Mehta’s disappointment, the 40-year-old actor says, “Despite being the main lead in the show, I was consistently placed in the supporting actor category by many award shows. This ongoing oversight, especially over the past year, frustrated both me and [Mehta] sir.”

Ayyub goes on to add that he’s always felt snubbed at award shows. “Initially, it used to hurt a lot, especially when my performance for Raanjhanaa (2013) went unnoticed. Industry welcomed me…audition wali stage khatam ho gayi thi but apart from being nominated at one or two award shows, others ignored me. Only some critics put me on their list of best performances. Uss time pe bura laga tha ki kya hua!” he shares.

Ask whether awards genuinely make a difference for an actor and Ayyub explains, “It is just a recognition of one’s efforts. You take your work more seriously, ki yeh ek award mila hai.”

But awards are not the ultimate validation for him. “It has been 15 years for me in the industry, and the kind of respect I have got from the audience and industry people, I cannot deny that. Great actors like Irrfan sahab, Pankaj Kapur, Manoj Bajpayee have praised me. Yeh validation hoti hai rather than award shows,” he concludes.