The 26th edition of the International Indian Film Academy Awards turned into a victory lap for Dhurandhar. The spy action drama, directed by Aditya Dhar and led by Ranveer Singh, swept the major popular and technical categories when the winners were announced on Friday.
Aneet Padda won Best Actress in a Leading Role for Saiyaara, while Chhaava, War 2 and Aryan Khan’s The Ba**ds of Bollywood also made their mark on the winners list.
Dhurandhar’s big night
Aditya Dhar’s film did not simply win; it collected the night’s most-watched awards. Ranveer Singh was named Best Actor in a Leading Role, Aditya Dhar took Best Director, and the film itself took Best Film. Sanjay Dutt added Best Actor in a Supporting Role, while Akshaye Khanna won Best Actor in a Negative Role.
- Best Film: Jyoti Deshpande, Aditya Dhar, Lokesh Dhar – Dhurandhar
- Best International Film: Avatar: Fire & Ash
- Best Director: Aditya Dhar – Dhurandhar
- Best Actor (Leading Role): Ranveer Singh – Dhurandhar
- Best Actress (Leading Role): Aneet Padda – Saiyaara
- Best Actor (Supporting Role): Sanjay Dutt – Dhurandhar
- Best Actress (Supporting Role): Huma Qureshi – Jolly LLB 3
- Best Actor in a Negative Role: Akshaye Khanna – Dhurandhar
The film also dominated the technical categories, taking cinematography, screenplay, dialogues, editing, sound design, original story and music direction. That is the kind of across-the-board performance that turns a single title into the night’s main headline.
Saiyaara, Chhaava and the wider field
Saiyaara was the other big story in the popular categories. Alongside Aneet Padda’s leading actress win, the film won Best Lyrics for Irshad Kamil and both playback singer prizes for Faheem Abdullah and Shreya Ghoshal. Ahaan Panday also won Best Male Debut for the same film.
Chhaava picked up three technical trophies: Best Sound Mixing for Alok De, Best Background Score for A R Rahman, and Best Visual Effects for Assemblage Entertainment and Redefine. War 2 won Best Choreography for Bosco Leslie Martis on the track Aavan Jaavan, while Homebound took Best Story (Adapted).
Debuts and digital winners
Rasha Thadani won Best Female Debut for Azaad. On the digital side, The Ba**ds of Bollywood led the series categories with Best Series, Best Direction for Aryan Khan and several performance wins, while Paatal Lok 2 took both leading performance awards and Best Original Story.
Among digital films, Baramulla won Best Picture and Best Story (Original), Stolen took Best Direction for Karan Tejpal, and Sanya Malhotra and Abhishek Banerjee won leading performance awards for Mrs and Stolen respectively. The Roshans won Best Docuseries/Docufilm, and The Traitors won Best Reality/Non Scripted.
Why the sweep matters
For Bollywood fans, the list is a clear snapshot of what the industry is rewarding right now: star-led action spectacle with strong technical polish, and performance-driven streaming stories. Dhurandhar’s dominance makes it the title to measure against as the rest of awards season unfolds.
Source: Hindustan Times
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