IIFA Awards: ‘Shershaah’ leads with top honours, Vicky Kaushal dedicates award to Irrfan

Abu Dhabi, June 5 (PTI): Actor Sidharth Malhotra starrer war drama “Shershaah” walked away with top honours at the 22nd edition of the IIFA Weekend and Awards on Saturday, which saw actors Vicky Kaushal, Kriti Sanon take home acting trophies.

The three day extravaganza concluded at the Etihad Arena, part of Yas Bay Waterfront on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi and celebrated the best of Hindi films in the last two years.

Produced by Karan Johar, “Shershaah” won the best film and best direction honour for Vishnuvaradhan.

The film, based on the life of Kargil war hero Captain Vikram Batra, also won awards in the music category, with best singer male and female being awarded to Jubin Nautiyal and Asees Kaur for Raataan Lambiyan.

The best music direction honour saw a tie between “Atrangi Re”, by AR Rahman, and “Shershaah” by Tanishk Bagchi, Jasleen Royal, Javed-Mohsin, Vikram Montrose, B Praak, Jaani.

Anurag Basu was awarded the best original story award for his acclaimed 2020 release “Ludo” and dedicated the win to the film’s editor Ajay Sharma, who passed away last year due to COVID.

The best adapted story honour was bagged by Kabir Khan and Sanjay Puran Singh Chauhan for “83”, a film based on the 1983 cricket world cup triumph of India.

For his role as freedom fighter Udham Singh in “Sardar Udham”, Vicky was adjudged the best actor. The Shoojit Sircar directorial was released on Prime Video to acclaim last year.

In his acceptance speech, Vicky thanked his family, actor wife Katrina Kaif, Sircar and producer Ronnie Lahiri.

The actor also dedicated his first ever best actor win to late Irrfan Khan, who was the original choice for the part.

“I want to thank each and everyone from the film, it’s because of them that I am standing here. This is for all the bravehearts who have sacrificed their lives to make India independent.

“This is my first best actor award, and I want to dedicate it to an actor whom I’ve admired, respected all my life, we lost him too soon the original choice to play Sardar Udham, late dear Irrfan sahab,” the 34-year-old actor said.

Actor Kriti Sanon was awarded the best actor honour for her perfomance in “Mimi”.

The Laxman Utekar directed comedy-drama also saw other acting honours going its way, including that of Sai Tamhankar for best performance in a supporting role.

Pankaj Tripathi bagged the best supporting actor award for “Ludo”.

When the actor came to receive the award, he was greeted with a rousing applause by fans, some of whom cheered him by calling him Kaleen Bhaiya, the fan favourite character from “Mirzapur”.

“I don’t need to give any speech. You have given it already with this reception,” Tripathi said to a thundering applause.

Kausar Munir bagged the best lyrics award for the song “Lehre Do” from Kabir Khan’s “83”.

The best debut male award was bagged by Ahan Shetty for the film “Tadap”. The award was presented to him by his actor father, Suniel Shetty. Actor Sharvari Wagh bagged the best debut award for her film “Bunty Aur Babli 2”.

The award ceremony was hosted by Salman Khan, Riteish Deshmukh and Maniesh Paul and saw perfomances by Abhishek Bachchan, Tiger Shroff, Ananya Panday, Sara Ali Khan, Nora Fatehi among others.

The event came to a close with a special tribute to music composer singer Bappi Lahiri by actor Shahid Kapoor.

The “Jersey” star danced on Lahiri’s chartbusters like “Yaad aa raha hai tera pyaar, “Tamma Tamma”, “Raat Baaki”, “I am a disco dancer”.

Actors Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Tamannaah Bhatia, Lara Dutta, Bobby Deol, Nargis Fakhri, Urvashi Rautela, producer Boney Kapoor, Ramesh Taurani among others were also present at the ceremony.