The IIFA Awards 2026 winners list is out, with Bollywood’s biggest stars, filmmakers, musicians and digital entertainment personalities receiving recognition for their outstanding contributions to Indian cinema.
The 26th edition of the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) Awards witnessed a remarkable performance by Dhurandhar, directed by Aditya Dhar. The film dominated the awards with 12 victories across acting, direction, storytelling and technical categories.
Ranveer Singh won Best Performance in a Leading Role (Male) for Dhurandhar, while Aneet Padda secured Best Performance in a Leading Role (Female) for Saiyaara.
Other major winners included Aditya Dhar, Akshaye Khanna, Sanjay Dutt, Huma Qureshi, A.R. Rahman, Shreya Ghoshal and Faheem Abdullah.
IIFA Awards 2026: Major Highlights
Here are the biggest highlights from this year’s awards:
- Best Picture: Dhurandhar
- Best Director: Aditya Dhar – Dhurandhar
- Best Actor: Ranveer Singh – Dhurandhar
- Best Actress: Aneet Padda – Saiyaara
- Best Supporting Actor: Sanjay Dutt – Dhurandhar
- Best Supporting Actress: Huma Qureshi – Jolly LLB 3
- Best Negative Role: Akshaye Khanna – Dhurandhar
- Best Music Direction: Shashwat Sachdev – Dhurandhar
- Best Female Debut: Rasha Thadani – Azaad
- Best Male Debut: Ahaan Panday – Saiyaara
Complete IIFA Awards 2026 Winners List
The following table presents the winners across the major popular categories.
| Award Category | Winner | Film |
|---|---|---|
| Best Picture | Jyoti Deshpande, Aditya Dhar and Lokesh Dhar | Dhurandhar |
| Best International Film | 20th Century Studios, Jon Landau and James Cameron | Avatar: Fire & Ash |
| Best Director | Aditya Dhar | Dhurandhar |
| Best Performance in a Leading Role (Male) | Ranveer Singh | Dhurandhar |
| Best Performance in a Leading Role (Female) | Aneet Padda | Saiyaara |
| Best Performance in a Supporting Role (Male) | Sanjay Dutt | Dhurandhar |
| Best Performance in a Supporting Role (Female) | Huma Qureshi | Jolly LLB 3 |
| Best Performance in a Negative Role | Akshaye Khanna | Dhurandhar |
| Best 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 |
| Best Playback Singer (Male) | Faheem Abdullah | Saiyaara |
| Best Playback Singer (Female) | Shreya Ghoshal | Saiyaara Reprise – Female |
Source: Official IIFA Awards 2026 winners announcement.
IIFA Awards 2026: Technical Category Winners
The technical categories recognise the contribution of professionals working behind the scenes, including cinematographers, editors, sound designers, choreographers and visual-effects artists.
Dhurandhar dominated several technical categories, while Chhaava also secured important honours.
| Technical Award Category | Winner | Film |
|---|---|---|
| Best Cinematography | Vikash Nowlakha | Dhurandhar |
| Best Screenplay | Aditya Dhar | Dhurandhar |
| Best Dialogues | Aditya Dhar | Dhurandhar |
| Best Editing | Shivkumar V. Panicker | Dhurandhar |
| Best Choreography | Bosco Leslie Martis | Aavan Jaavan – War 2 |
| Best Sound Design | Bishwadeep Chatterjee | Dhurandhar |
| Best Sound Mixing | Alok De | Chhaava |
| Best Background Score | A.R. Rahman | Chhaava |
| Best Special Effects (Visual) | Assemblage Entertainment and Redefine | Chhaava |
IIFA Awards 2026: Best Debut Winners
The IIFA Awards also recognised emerging talent through its debut categories.
Rasha Thadani won Best Female Debut for her performance in Azaad, while Ahaan Panday received Best Male Debut for Saiyaara.
| Award Category | Winner | Film |
|---|---|---|
| Best Female Debut | Rasha Thadani | Azaad |
| Best Male Debut | Ahaan Panday | Saiyaara |
IIFA Digital Awards 2026 Winners List
Apart from mainstream cinema, the IIFA Digital Awards 2026 recognised outstanding performances and productions across digital films, web series, documentaries and reality entertainment.
The digital awards celebrated some of the most popular OTT productions and performers.
1. IIFA Digital Awards 2026 – Film Category
| Award Category | Winner | Film |
|---|---|---|
| Best Picture | B62 Studios, Netflix Entertainment Services India and Jio Studios | Baramulla |
| Best Direction | Karan Tejpal | Stolen |
| Best Performance in a Leading Role (Female) | Sanya Malhotra | Mrs |
| Best Performance in a Leading Role (Male) | Abhishek Banerjee | Stolen |
| Best Performance in a Supporting Role (Female) | Monika Panwar | Nishaanchi 2 |
| Best Performance in a Supporting Role (Male) | Avinash Tiwary | The Mehta Boys |
| Best Story (Original) | Aditya Dhar, Monal Thakkar and Aditya Suhas Jambhale | Baramulla |
2. IIFA Digital Awards 2026 – Series Category
The web series categories recognised popular performances and creative achievements across India’s digital entertainment industry.
| Award Category | Winner | Series |
|---|---|---|
| Best Picture | Red Chillies Entertainment and Netflix Entertainment Services India | The Ba***ds of Bollywood |
| Best Direction | Aryan Khan | The Ba***ds of Bollywood |
| Best Performance in a Leading Role (Female) | Tillotama Shome | Paatal Lok Season 2 |
| Best Performance in a Leading Role (Male) | Jaideep Ahlawat | Paatal Lok Season 2 |
| Best Performance in a Supporting Role (Female) | Anya Singh | The Ba***ds of Bollywood |
| Best Performance in a Supporting Role (Male) | Raghav Juyal | The Ba***ds of Bollywood |
| Best Story (Original) | Sudip Sharma, Tamal Sen, Rahul Kanojia and Abhishek Banerjee | Paatal Lok Season 2 |
3. Other IIFA Digital Awards 2026 Winners
| Award Category | Winner | Production |
|---|---|---|
| Best Docuseries/DocuFilm | Netflix Entertainment Services India, Rakesh Roshan and Shashi Ranjan | The Roshans |
| Best Reality/Non-Scripted | BBC Studios, All 3 Media and Prime Video | The Traitors |
| Best Title Track | Ujwal Gupta | Number 1 – The Ba***ds of Bollywood |
Source: Official IIFA Digital Awards 2026 announcement.
Dhurandhar Emerges as the Biggest Winner at IIFA 2026
- The biggest talking point from the IIFA Awards 2026 was the remarkable success of Aditya Dhar’s Dhurandhar.
- The film secured 12 awards, making it the biggest winner of the 26th edition.
- Ranveer Singh received the Best Actor award for his leading performance, while Aditya Dhar received multiple honours for direction, original storytelling, screenplay and dialogues.
- The film also won recognition in cinematography, editing, music direction and sound design.
- Its performance demonstrated the film’s strong impact across multiple aspects of filmmaking.
Ranveer Singh and Aneet Padda Win Best Actor and Best Actress
- Ranveer Singh emerged as one of the biggest individual winners after receiving the Best Performance in a Leading Role (Male) award for Dhurandhar.
- Aneet Padda won the Best Performance in a Leading Role (Female) award for her performance in Saiyaara.
- Their victories highlighted the recognition received by two different cinematic performances at this year’s awards.
- Meanwhile, Huma Qureshi and Sanjay Dutt secured supporting performance honours, and Akshaye Khanna received recognition for his negative role in Dhurandhar.
Significance of the IIFA Awards
- The International Indian Film Academy Awards are among the prominent award platforms celebrating Indian cinema and its international reach.
- The awards recognise achievements across several creative disciplines, including acting, directing, music, writing, cinematography, editing and technical production.
- The introduction and expansion of digital award categories also reflect the growing importance of OTT platforms and streaming entertainment in India’s media industry.
- The 2026 edition highlighted the contribution of both theatrical cinema and digital entertainment to the evolution of the Indian entertainment industry.
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