“Queen” wins top honours at IIFA

Vikas Bahl's directorial “Queen” bagged the Best Picture, Best Story and Best Performance in a Leading Role - female awards at the three-day long 16th edition of the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) Weekend and Awards in Malaysia on Sunday.

The Kangana Ranaut-starrer was up against “2 States”, “PK”, “Haider”, “Highway” and “Mary Kom” for the Best Picture trophy.

Bahl, however, lost the award in the Direction category to Rajkumar Hirani, who took home the trophy for “PK”.

In the Leading Role Male category, Shahid Kapoor, who also performed at the award ceremony hosted by Ranveer Singh and Arjun Kapoor, walked home with the award for his performance in “Haider”. He had strong contenders including Aamir Khan (“PK”), Hrithik Roshan (“Bang Bang!”), and Shah Rukh Khan (“Happy New Year”).

Deepika Padukone, meanwhile, was felicitated with Woman of the Year award. She was also nominated in the Best Performance in a Leading Role - Female.

Riteish Deshmukh grabbed the award for Best Performance in a Supporting Role - male for his villainous act in “Ek Villain”, Kay Kay Menon received the award for Best Performance in a Negative Role for “Haider”. His co-star Tabu won Best Performance in a Supporting Role - female.

There was also an award for Best Regional Film, which went to Riteish Deshmukh-starrer Marathi film “Lai Bhaari”.

“Main Tera Hero” star Varun Dhawan won an award for the Best Performance in a Comic Role. 

The Best Music Direction trophy went to the popular trio Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy for “2 States”. Other contenders included Mithoon (“Banjara”, “Zaroorat” and “Hamdard”) and Ankit Tiwari (“Galliyan”), for which he won Best Playback Singer - Male.

In the female category of the award, the “Baby doll” singer Kanika Kapoor (for “Ragini MMS 2”) defeated Sultana and Jyoti Nooran for “Patakha guddi” (“Highway”) and Shreya Ghoshal for “Samjhawan” (“Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania”).

It was a big night for “Heropanti” actors Tiger Shroff and Kriti Sanon, who both won trophies for Best Debut. 

National Award-winning director Omung Kumar got the Best Debut Direction award for “Mary Kom”. He shared it with popular p roducer Sajid Nadiadwala, who made his directorial debut with “Kick”.

It was an emotional moment when the award for Outstanding Contribution to Indian Cinema was announced. Subhash Ghai got on stage to receive it from Anil Kapoor and Jackie Shroff, whom he worked with in the 1989 movie “Ram Lakhan”. Shraddha Kapoor also paid tribute to Ghai by performing on songs from his films. Other performers included Parineeti Chopra, Anushka Sharma and Sonakshi Sinha. 

A special tribute to Shah Rukh and Kajol-starrer “Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge”, which completed 1,000 weeks of screening last year, was paid by the show's hosts, who also cracked jokes on their controversial AIB Roast video for which they got into trouble earlier this year. 

Held at Putra Indoor Stadium, the award ceremony was attended by thousands of screaming fans, some of which had flown from different countries just to see their favourite stars at the gala.

Source: IANS