* ‘Saiyaara’ Stars Aneet Padda and Ahaan Panday Take Home Top Honours; ‘Paatal Lok Season 2’ and ‘The Bads of Bollywood’ Shine at the Digital Awards
TIL Desk Mumbai:👉 Celebrating the finest talent, compelling performances and creative excellence in Indian cinema, the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) has announced the winners of its 26th edition. At the IIFA Awards 2026, ‘Dhurandhar’ emerged as the standout winner, securing several prestigious honours across direction, acting, storytelling, music and technical categories. Meanwhile, films such as ‘Saiyaara’, ‘Chhaava’ and ‘Homebound’ also made their mark across various categories. The IIFA Digital Awards 2026 recognised outstanding achievements in films, web series and the wider digital entertainment landscape.
This edition of IIFA celebrated excellence across popular categories, technical achievements and debut performances, highlighting the diversity of storytelling, emerging talent and creative innovation shaping the Indian entertainment industry.
‘Dhurandhar’ Takes Home Multiple Major Honours
‘Dhurandhar’ emerged as one of the biggest winners at the IIFA Awards 2026, securing several significant awards. Aditya Dhar won Best Director, Best Story (Original), Best Screenplay and Best Dialogues for the film. Ranveer Singh was honoured for Performance in a Leading Role (Male), while Akshaye Khanna received the award for his performance in a negative role. Sanjay Dutt won for his supporting performance, while Shashwat Sachdev was recognised for Best Music Direction.
The film continued its winning streak in the technical categories. Vikash Nowlakha won for Cinematography, Shivkumar V. Panicker received the award for Editing, and Bishwadeep Chatterjee was honoured for Sound Design. With its success across both performance-based and technical categories, ‘Dhurandhar’ emerged as a defining title of this year's awards.
‘Saiyaara’ Stars Earn Top Recognition
‘Saiyaara’ also enjoyed considerable success at the awards. Aneet Padda won for Performance in a Leading Role (Female), while Ahaan Panday was recognised as Best Male Debut for the film. Rasha Thadani received the Best Female Debut award for ‘Azaad’.
The film also made a strong impression in the music categories. Irshad Kamil won Best Lyrics, while Faheem Abdullah was honoured as Best Playback Singer (Male) for ‘Saiyaara’. Shreya Ghoshal won Best Playback Singer (Female) for the female reprise version of the film's title track.
Meanwhile, Basharat Peer, Sumit Roy and Neeraj Ghaywan jointly received the award for Best Story (Adapted) for ‘Homebound’. Huma Qureshi was recognised for her supporting performance in ‘Jolly LLB 3’, while ‘Avatar: Fire & Ash’ received recognition in the Best International Film category.
‘Chhaava’ and ‘War 2’ Shine in Technical Categories
The technical awards also celebrated the creative excellence behind some of Indian cinema's major productions. ‘Chhaava’ secured multiple honours, with Alok De winning for Sound Mixing, A.R. Rahman receiving the award for Background Score, and Assemblage Entertainment and Redefine being recognised for Visual Effects.
Meanwhile, Bosco Leslie Martis won the award for Choreography for the song ‘Aavan Jaavan’ from ‘War 2’, adding another highlight to the film's technical achievements.
‘Baramulla’ and ‘Paatal Lok Season 2’ Lead the Digital Awards
The IIFA Digital Awards 2026 celebrated outstanding work across digital films and web series. In the film category, ‘Baramulla’ emerged as a major winner, securing awards for Best Picture and Best Story (Original).
Karan Tejpal won for Direction for ‘Stolen’, while Abhishek Banerjee was honoured for Performance in a Leading Role (Male) for the same film. Sanya Malhotra received the award for Performance in a Leading Role (Female) for ‘Mrs’.
In the supporting performance categories, Monika Panwar won for ‘Nishaanchi 2’, while Avinash Tiwary was recognised for ‘The Mehta Boys’.
The series category witnessed a strong showing by ‘The Ba***ds of Bollywood’, which won Best Picture and Best Direction, with Aryan Khan receiving the directing honour. Anya Singh was recognised for her supporting performance, while Raghav Juyal won for his supporting role in the series.
‘Paatal Lok Season 2’ also emerged as a major winner. Jaideep Ahlawat won for Performance in a Leading Role (Male), while Tillotama Shome received the award for Performance in a Leading Role (Female). The series also won Best Story (Original), with Sudip Sharma, Tamal Sen, Rahul Kanojia and Abhishek Banerjee sharing the honour.
Documentary and Reality Entertainment Receive Recognition
The IIFA Digital Awards also celebrated achievements beyond films and scripted series. ‘The Roshans’ won Best Docuseries/DocuFilm, recognising its contribution to documentary storytelling. ‘The Traitors’ received the award for Best Reality/Non-Scripted programme.
Ujwal Gupta was honoured with the Best Title Track award for ‘Number 1’ from ‘The Ba***ds of Bollywood’, highlighting the growing creative influence of music and original compositions in digital entertainment.
The winners of the 26th edition of IIFA reflect the breadth of talent and creativity across Indian cinema and digital entertainment, celebrating achievements in acting, direction, music, technical craftsmanship and storytelling.
With the winners of the 2026 edition announced, the spotlight now turns to the next chapter of the prestigious celebration. The 27th IIFA Weekend & Awards is scheduled to take place on January 22 and 23, 2027, at Etihad Arena, Yas Island, Abu Dhabi, bringing together leading names from Indian cinema and entertainment for another celebration of cinematic excellence.
