The Indian Film Festival of Melbourne (IFFM) 2024 heralds its 15th edition with much excitement, unveiling a highly anticipated list of nominations. The spotlight this year falls on Kiran Rao’s ‘Laapataa Ladies,’ leading the pack with 5 nominations. Close on its heels are some captivating films such as ‘Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani,’ ’12th Fail,’ ‘Chandu Champion,’ and ‘Dunki.’
Hosted by the Victorian Government in Australia, IFFM stands as an annual celebration of Indian cinema, showcasing an array of the finest films, digital series, and talents emerging from India. The festival emphasizes cultural exchange, celebrating the rich diversity of Indian cinema on an international stage. This year’s festival is set to start on 15th August and will run through until 25th August, reflecting themes of inclusion, diversity, and a wide spectrum of languages and film genres.
The Best Actor category will witness some stiff competition. The charismatic Shah Rukh Khan, known as King Khan, will go toe-to-toe with talents spanning multiple languages, including Vikrant Massey, Fahadh Faasil, Ranveer Singh, Kartik Aaryan, Mithun Chakraborty, and others. In parallel, the Best Actress category features a riveting contest with Alia Bhatt, a leading name in Bollywood, vying for the title against talents such as Jyothika and Parvathy Thiruvothu, along with emerging stars from ‘Laapataa Ladies,’ Nitanshi Goel and Pratibha Ranta.
OTT platforms aren’t left out in this celebration of Indian cinema. Series like ‘Heeramandi,’ ‘Poacher,’ and ‘Made In Heaven Season 2’ are among the high-profile contenders in the OTT category, underscoring the evolution of digital storytelling.
The grand event of the IFFM 2024 Awards, revealing the festival’s winners, will take place in a gala night on the 16th at the esteemed Palais Theatre in Melbourne. Below is a comprehensive list of the nominees for this year’s prestigious awards:
Best Film:
1. 12th Fail (Hindi)
2. Amar Singh Chamkila (Hindi)
3. Chandu Champion (Hindi)
4. Dunki (Hindi)
5. Jawan (Hindi)
6. Maharaja (Tamil)
7. Premalu (Malayalam)
8. Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani (Hindi)
Best Film – Critics Choice:
1. Dear Jassi (Punjabi)
2. Girls Will Be Girls (English/Hindi)
3. Kaathal – The Core (Malayalam)
4. Kabuliwala (Bengali)
5. Laapataa Ladies (Hindi)
6. Rapture (Garo)
7. Sapta Sagaradaache Ello – Side A (Kannada)
8. Thadavu (The Sentence) (Malayalam)
Best Actor:
1. Diljit Dosanjh – Amar Singh Chamkila
2. Fahadh Faasil – Aavesham
3. Kartik Aaryan – Chandu Champion
4. Mammootty – Kaathal – The Core
5. Mithun Chakraborty – Kabuliwala
6. Ranveer Singh – Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani
7. Shah Rukh Khan – Dunki & Jawan
8. Sparsh Shrivastava – Laapataa Ladies
9. Vicky Kaushal – Sam Bahadur
10. Vikrant Massey – 12th Fail
Best Actress:
1. Alia Bhatt – Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani
2. Alizeh Agnihotri – Farrey
3. Beena R Chandran – Thadavu (The Sentence)
4. Jyothika – Kaathal – The Core
5. Nitanshi Goel – Laapataa Ladies
6. Parvathy Thiruvothu – Ullozhukku (Undercurrent)
7. Pratibha Ranta – Laapataa Ladies
8. Preeti Panigrahi – Girls will be Girls
9. Sanya Malhotra – Mrs
10. Swathi Reddy – Month of Madhu
Best Director:
1. Imtiaz Ali – Amar Singh Chamkila
2.
. Kabir Khan – Chandu Champion
3. Karan Johar – Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani
4. Nithilan Saminathan – Maharaja
5. Rahul Sadasivan – Bramayugam
6. Rajkumar Hirani – Dunki
7. Vidhu Vinod Chopra – 12th Fail
Best Director – Critics Choice:
1. Christo Tomy – Ullozhukku (Undercurrent)
2. Diwa Shah – Bahadur – The Brave
3. Dominic Sangma – Rimdogittanga (Rapture)
4. Hemanth Rao – Sapta Sagaradaache Ello – Side A
5. Kiran Rao – Laapataa Ladies
6. Saurav Rai – Guras
7. Shuchi Talati – Girls will be Girls
8. Sumanth Bhat – Mithya
Best OTT Show:
1. Dhootha (Telugu)
2. Heeramandi (Hindi)
3. Kohrra (Hindi)
4. Made in Heaven 2 (Hindi)
5. Panchayat Season 3 (Hindi)
6. Poacher (Malayalam)
7. The Railway Men (Hindi)
Best Actor OTT:
1. Arjun Mathur – Made in Heaven 2
2. Babil Khan – The Railway Men
3. Gulshan Devaiah – Guns & Gulaabs
4. Jitendra Kumar – Panchayat Season 3
5. Naveen Chandra – Inspector Rishi
6. R. Madhavan – The Railway Men
7. Roshan Mathew – Poacher
8. Suvinder Vicky – Kohrra
Best Actress OTT:
1. Harleen Sethi – Kohrra
2. Karishma Tanna – Scoop
3. Neena Gupta – Panchayat Season 3
4. Nimisha Sajayan – Poacher
5. Parvathy Thiruvothu – Dhootha
6. Shriya Pilgaonkar – The Broken News 2
7. Sobhita Dhulipala – Made in Heaven 2
Best Documentary:
1. Farming the Revolution
2. Flickering Lights
3. Headhunting to Beatboxing
4. Indi(r)a’s Emergency
5. Insides and Outsides
6. Trolley Times
Best Film – Subcontinent:
1. Barir Naam Shahana (A House Named Shahana) – Bangladesh
2. Paradise – Sri Lanka
3. The Monk and the Gun – Bhutan
4. The Red Suitcase – Nepal
5. Wakhri (One of a Kind) – Pakistan
As the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne gears up, cinephiles all around the globe eagerly await the celebrations and the revelation of award winners during this cinematic extravaganza. The festival symbolizes a grand feast celebrating the remarkable diversity and brilliance of Indian cinema.
