The International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) announced the winners of its 26th annual awards ceremony on Friday, October 30, 2026, marking a sweeping victory for filmmaker Aditya Dhar’s espionage thriller Dhurandhar, which secured 12 major honors. Led by Best Actor winner Ranveer Singh and Best Director recipient Aditya Dhar, the film dominated both major artistic and technical categories. Meanwhile, breakout performer Aneet Padda claimed the Best Actress award for her role in Saiyaara, and digital streaming platforms saw significant institutional expansion, headlined by Aryan Khan winning Best Web Series Director for Red Chillies Entertainment’s The Ba*ds of Bollywood.
MUMBAI, India — The 26th edition of the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) Awards concluded on Friday, October 30, 2026, with filmmaker Aditya Dhar’s high-octane spy action drama Dhurandhar staging an unprecedented clean sweep across both main-stage and technical classifications. The official digital rollout of the winners confirmed that Dhurandhar captured a total of 12 trophies, including Best Film, Best Director, and Best Actor in a Leading Role for lead star Ranveer Singh.
The annual honors, which evaluate excellence across theatrical cinema and digital streaming platforms, reflected a notable dual landscape within the Indian entertainment economy. While large-scale theatrical spectacles like Dhurandhar and Chhaava captured primary honors in traditional cinema, streaming originals—led by Red Chillies Entertainment’s The Ba*ds of Bollywood and Prime Video’s Paatal Lok Season 2—demonstrated expanding creative influence across OTT (over-the-top) categories.
Aditya Dhar and ‘Dhurandhar’ Set Record Tally
The central narrative of the 26th IIFA Awards was the comprehensive victory of Dhurandhar, produced by Jyoti Deshpande, Aditya Dhar, and Lokesh Dhar. The film’s narrative, centered around intelligence operations and geopolitical friction, resonated strongly with the voting body, securing top accolades across writing, directing, and performance sectors.
Aditya Dhar achieved a rare individual milestone by winning four major standalone trophies for a single project: Best Director, Best Story (Original), Best Screenplay, and Best Dialogues.
In the primary acting fields, Ranveer Singh took home the Best Actor in a Leading Role trophy for his portrayal of a covert operative in Dhurandhar. The film’s ensemble cast was similarly recognized, with veteran actor Sanjay Dutt receiving the award for Performance in a Supporting Role (Male) and Akshaye Khanna named the winner for Performance in a Negative Role.
On the craft side, Dhurandhar picked up key technical awards including Best Cinematography for Vikash Nowlakha, Best Editing for Shivkumar V. Panicker, Best Sound Design for Bishwadeep Chatterjee, and Best Music Direction for composer Shashwat Sachdev.
Breakout Performances and Musical Category Winners
While Dhurandhar captured the majority of feature film honors, the romantic drama Saiyaara emerged as a major contender in performance and music divisions. Relative newcomer Aneet Padda won the coveted Best Performance in a Leading Role (Female) award for her headlining role in the film.
Saiyaara also dominated the musical performance slate. Renowned lyricist Irshad Kamil secured the award for Best Lyrics for the film’s title track. Faheem Abdullah won Best Playback Singer (Male) for rendering the title song, while Shreya Ghoshal took home Best Playback Singer (Female) for her vocal performance on Saiyaara Reprise.
The acting debut honors went to Ahaan Panday for his performance in Saiyaara (Best Debut, Male) and Rasha Thadani for her role in the historical action drama Azaad (Best Debut, Female).
In other notable popular categories:
- Supporting Actress: Huma Qureshi was named the winner of Performance in a Supporting Role (Female) for her work in the legal comedy-drama Jolly LLB 3.
- Adapted Screenplay: The award for Best Story (Adapted) was presented to Basharat Peer, Sumit Roy, and Neeraj Ghaywan for their collaborative work on Homebound.
- International Cinema: James Cameron’s sci-fi epic Avatar: Fire & Ash (distributed by 20th Century Studios) took home the honor for Best International Film.
Technical Excellence and Digital Streaming Awards
In the specialized technical sector, the historical biopic Chhaava earned multiple high-level craft awards. The film’s sound team—led by Alok De—won Best Sound Mixing, while visual effects studios Assemblage Entertainment and Redefine secured the trophy for Best Special Effects. Legendary composer A.R. Rahman was honored with Best Background Score for his composition work on Chhaava. Additionally, choreographer Bosco Leslie Martis received the Best Choreography award for the dance sequence “Aavan Jaavan” in the action film War 2.
Reflecting broader industry shifts toward digital distribution, the 2026 IIFA Digital Awards expanded its coverage across streaming films and original episodic series:
- Digital Feature Films: The thriller Baramulla took home Best Picture (Digital) as well as Best Story (Original) for co-writers Aditya Dhar, Monal Thakkar, and Aditya Suhas Jambhale. Director Karan Tejpal won Best Direction for Stolen, which also saw actor Abhishek Banerjee win Best Performance in a Leading Role (Male). Sanya Malhotra took home Best Performance in a Leading Role (Female) for Mrs.. Supporting acting awards in the digital film section went to Monika Panwar (Nishanchi 2) and Avinash Tiwary (The Mehta Boys).
- Digital Series: Red Chillies Entertainment’s satyrical show The Ba*ds of Bollywood achieved top honors as Best Web Series. The show earned debutant filmmaker Aryan Khan the award for Best Direction (Web Series). Supporting performance accolades were presented to ensemble cast members Anya Singh and Raghav Juyal, while composer Ujwal Gupta won Best Title Track for “Number 1”.
- Crime & Drama Series: Paatal Lok Season 2 secured major honors in the dramatic series categories. Lead actors Jaideep Ahlawat and Tillotama Shome won Best Performance in a Leading Role Male and Female, respectively, while the show’s writing staff—Sudip Sharma, Tamal Sen, Rahul Kanojia, and Abhishek Banerjee—won Best Story (Original).
- Non-Scripted & Unscripted Content: The Roshans won the trophy for Best Docuseries/DocuFilm, while the local adaptation of The Traitors was named Best Reality/Non-Scripted Show.
Complete List of IIFA 2026 Winners
Feature Film Popular Categories
- Best Film: Dhurandhar (Producers: Jyoti Deshpande, Aditya Dhar, Lokesh Dhar)
- Best Director: Aditya Dhar – Dhurandhar
- Best Actor in a Leading Role (Male): Ranveer Singh – Dhurandhar
- Best Actress in a Leading Role (Female): Aneet Padda – Saiyaara
- Performance in a Supporting Role (Female): Huma Qureshi – Jolly LLB 3
- Performance in a Supporting Role (Male): Sanjay Dutt – Dhurandhar
- Performance in a Negative Role: Akshaye Khanna – Dhurandhar
- Best Debut (Male): Ahaan Panday – Saiyaara
- Best Debut (Female): Rasha Thadani – Azaad
- Best International Film: Avatar: Fire & Ash (20th Century Studios, Jon Landau, James Cameron)
- Best Story (Original): Aditya Dhar – Dhurandhar
- Best Story (Adapted): Basharat Peer, Sumit Roy, and Neeraj Ghaywan – Homebound
- Best Music Direction: Shashwat Sachdev – Dhurandhar
- Best Lyrics: Irshad Kamil – Title Track (Saiyaara)
- Best Playback Singer (Male): Faheem Abdullah – Title Track (Saiyaara)
- Best Playback Singer (Female): Shreya Ghoshal – Saiyaara Reprise (Saiyaara)
Feature Film Technical Categories
- Best Cinematography: Vikash Nowlakha – Dhurandhar
- Best Screenplay: Aditya Dhar – Dhurandhar
- Best Dialogues: Aditya Dhar – Dhurandhar
- Best Editing: Shivkumar V. Panicker – Dhurandhar
- Best Sound Design: Bishwadeep Chatterjee – Dhurandhar
- Best Sound Mixing: Alok De – Chhaava
- Best Background Score: A.R. Rahman – Chhaava
- Best Special Effects: Assemblage Entertainment and Redefine – Chhaava
- Best Choreography: Bosco Leslie Martis – “Aavan Jaavan” (War 2)
Digital Awards 2026 (Films & Web Series)
- Best Picture (Digital Film): Baramulla
- Best Direction (Digital Film): Karan Tejpal – Stolen
- Leading Role, Male (Digital Film): Abhishek Banerjee – Stolen
- Leading Role, Female (Digital Film): Sanya Malhotra – Mrs.
- Supporting Role, Female (Digital Film): Monika Panwar – Nishanchi 2
- Supporting Role, Male (Digital Film): Avinash Tiwary – The Mehta Boys
- Best Story (Digital Film): Aditya Dhar, Monal Thakkar, and Aditya Suhas Jambhale – Baramulla
- Best Web Series: The Ba*ds of Bollywood (Red Chillies Entertainment)
- Best Web Series Direction: Aryan Khan – The Ba*ds of Bollywood
- Leading Role, Male (Digital Series): Jaideep Ahlawat – Paatal Lok Season 2
- Leading Role, Female (Digital Series): Tillotama Shome – Paatal Lok Season 2
- Supporting Role, Female (Digital Series): Anya Singh – The Ba*ds of Bollywood
- Supporting Role, Male (Digital Series): Raghav Juyal – The Ba*ds of Bollywood
- Best Story (Original – Digital Series): Sudip Sharma, Tamal Sen, Rahul Kanojia, and Abhishek Banerjee – Paatal Lok Season 2
- Best Title Track (Digital): Ujwal Gupta – “Number 1” (The Ba*ds of Bollywood)
- Best Docuseries/DocuFilm: The Roshans
- Best Reality/Non-Scripted Show: The Traitors
The comprehensive awards tally reflects a continued balance between traditional box-office tentpoles and targeted direct-to-streaming projects within the Indian media industry.
