Varun Dhawan and Alia Bhatt at the ceremony.

Shahid Kapoor and Alia Bhatt were named Best Actors at the 18th edition of the IIFA Awards, for their remarkable work in “Udta Punjab” on Saturday. Diljit Dosanjh also won the best debut actor male for the same film, as Disha Patani picked best female debutant for “MS Dhoni: The Untold Story”. 

Both Shahid and Alia were emotional about winning the award for a film which made its way to the big screen after fighting the censor board, and let mainstream performers like them take up something risky.

Katrina Kaif gave away the award to Shahid at the ceremony in New York, while Varun Dhawan announced Alia as the Best Actor - Female at the event, held at the Metlife Stadium.

The Best Picture honour went to “Neerja”, based on the real life story of air hostess Neerja Bhanot, who lost her life while trying to save others on a hijacked flight at Karachi.

Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury walked away with the Best Direction award for “Pink”, a hard-hitting drama which put forth the message that when a woman says no, it is a no.

Veterans Shabana Azmi and Anupam Kher won best supporting actors, for “Neerja” and the Dhoni biopic respectively. Amit Mishra won best playback (male) for “Ae Dil Hai Mushkil', Kanika Kapoor and Tulsi Kumar shared the best female playback for “Udta Punjab” and “Airlift” respectively, while Pritam won best music director for “Ae Dil Hai Mushkil”. The best actor in a comic role went to Varun Dhawan for “Dishoom”, Alia Bhatt picked up a second trophy for Mystra Style Icon, and IIFA named Taapsee Pannu their woman of the year.

Source: Hindustan Times, NDTV