2026 IIFA Awards: Dhurandhar Dominates as Ranveer Singh and Aditya Dhar Take Top Honours
The 2026 IIFA Awards celebrated achievements across Bollywood films and digital entertainment, with Aditya Dhar’s Dhurandhar emerging as the ceremony’s biggest winner. The film collected major honours in both popular and technical categories, including Best Film, Best Director for Dhar and Best Performance in a Leading Role (Male) for Ranveer Singh.
Dhar’s success extended beyond directing. He also won for Best Story (Original), Best Screenplay and Best Dialogues, giving Dhurandhar a particularly strong presence across the awards list. Its haul recognised not only the film’s performances, but also the writing and craft behind its production.
Aneet Padda earned the Best Performance in a Leading Role (Female) award for Saiyaara, while the film also picked up music-related honours. In the digital categories, The Ba***ds of Bollywood won Best Web Series, and Aryan Khan was recognised for directing the show. Together, the results reflected the growing reach of Bollywood storytelling across cinema and streaming platforms.
Major Film Awards: Dhurandhar Leads the Winners
The Best Film award went to Dhurandhar, with Aditya Dhar named Best Director. Ranveer Singh’s leading-role win added another headline honour for the film, while Sanjay Dutt was recognised for his supporting performance. Akshaye Khanna won in the negative-role category, rounding out a strong showing for the cast.
The film also prevailed in several behind-the-scenes categories. Vikash Nowlakha won Best Cinematography, Shivkumar V. Panicker received Best Editing, and Bishwadeep Chatterjee was honoured for Sound Design. Shashwat Sachdev won Best Music Direction. These awards highlight the collaborative work that shapes a film’s atmosphere, pacing and emotional impact—not just the performances audiences see on screen.
Among the other acting winners, Huma Qureshi took the supporting-role award for Jolly LLB 3. Aneet Padda’s win for Saiyaara marked a major milestone for the actress, while the film’s title song brought recognition to singer Faheem Abdullah. Shreya Ghoshal won for the Saiyaara reprise, and Irshad Kamil received Best Lyrics for the title track.
Popular Category Winners
- Best Film: Dhurandhar
- Best Director: Aditya Dhar – Dhurandhar
- Leading Role (Female): Aneet Padda – Saiyaara
- Leading Role (Male): Ranveer Singh – Dhurandhar
- Supporting Role (Female): Huma Qureshi – Jolly LLB 3
- Supporting Role (Male): Sanjay Dutt – Dhurandhar
- Negative Role: Akshaye Khanna – Dhurandhar
- Music Direction: Shashwat Sachdev – Dhurandhar
- Best Story (Original): Aditya Dhar – Dhurandhar
- Best Story (Adapted): Basharat Peer, Sumit Roy and Neeraj Ghaywan – Homebound
- Best Lyrics: Irshad Kamil – “Saiyaara” title song
- Playback Singer (Male): Faheem Abdullah – “Saiyaara” title song
- Playback Singer (Female): Shreya Ghoshal – “Saiyaara” reprise
- Best Debut (Female): Rasha Thadani – Azaad
- Best Debut (Male): Ahaan Panday – Saiyaara
Technical Awards Recognise the Craft Behind the Films
The technical honours offered a wider view of the work that brings Bollywood productions to life. Dhurandhar won for screenplay, dialogue, cinematography, editing and sound design, while Chhaava received awards for sound mixing and special effects. Alok De won Best Sound Mixing for Chhaava, and Assemblage Entertainment and Redefine were recognised for the film’s visual effects.
Bosco Leslie Martis won Best Choreography for “Aavan Jaavan” from War 2. The category results underscored the variety of creative disciplines represented at the IIFA Awards, from song staging and visual effects to sound and editing.
Digital Awards Spotlight Streaming and Series Talent
The 2026 digital awards recognised films, series, performances and nonfiction programming. Baramulla won Best Picture, while Karan Tejpal received Best Direction for Stolen. Abhishek Banerjee was honoured for his leading performance in Stolen, and Sanya Malhotra won the leading-role award for Mrs.
Paatal Lok Season 2 also featured prominently. Jaideep Ahlawat and Tillotama Shome won the leading-performance awards, while the series’ writing team—Sudip Sharma, Tamal Sen, Rahul Kanojia and Abhishek Banerjee—received Best Story (Original). Avinash Tiwary won a supporting-role award for The Mehta Boys, and Monika Panwar was recognised for Nishanchi 2.
For The Ba***ds of Bollywood, the wins included Best Web Series and Best Web Series Direction for Aryan Khan. Anya Singh and Raghav Juyal also received supporting-performance honours for their work on the show. Ujwal Gupta won Best Title Track for “Number 1,” further strengthening the series’ showing.
Digital Category Winners
- Best Picture: Baramulla
- Best Direction: Karan Tejpal – Stolen
- Leading Role (Female): Sanya Malhotra – Mrs.
- Leading Role (Male): Abhishek Banerjee – Stolen
- Supporting Role (Female): Monika Panwar – Nishanchi 2
- Supporting Role (Male): Avinash Tiwary – The Mehta Boys
- Best Story: Aditya Dhar, Monal Thakkar and Aditya Suhas Jambhale – Baramulla
- Best Web Series: Red Chillies Entertainment – The Ba***ds of Bollywood
- Best Web Series Direction: Aryan Khan – The Ba***ds of Bollywood
- Leading Role (Female, Series): Tillotama Shome – Paatal Lok Season 2
- Leading Role (Male, Series): Jaideep Ahlawat – Paatal Lok Season 2
- Supporting Role (Female, Series): Anya Singh – The Ba***ds of Bollywood
- Supporting Role (Male, Series): Raghav Juyal – The Ba***ds of Bollywood
- Best Story (Original): Sudip Sharma, Tamal Sen, Rahul Kanojia and Abhishek Banerjee – Paatal Lok Season 2
- Best Docuseries/DocuFilm: The Roshans
- Best Reality/Non-Scripted Show: The Traitors
- Best Title Track: Ujwal Gupta – “Number 1,” The Ba***ds of Bollywood
A Broad Night for Bollywood and Digital Entertainment
With Dhurandhar leading the film winners and streaming titles earning recognition across multiple categories, the 2026 IIFA Awards offered a snapshot of an entertainment industry working across formats. The results celebrated established stars and creative teams while also highlighting emerging performers such as Aneet Padda, Rasha Thadani and Ahaan Panday.
The ceremony’s mix of theatrical releases, web series and nonfiction programming reflects how audiences now discover stories across cinemas and digital platforms. For Bollywood, that expanding landscape creates more opportunities for performers, writers and directors—and gives awards ceremonies an increasingly broad field of work to recognise.
