‘Queen’, ‘Haider’ big winners at 2015 IIFA awards

Kuala Lumpur, June 8

Vishal Bhardwaj’s modern re-telling of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, “Haider”, and Vikash Bahl’s coming-of-age drama, “Queen”, emerged as big winners at the 16^th IIFA awards by taking home three trophies each, including Best Actress honour for Kangana Ranaut and Best Actor for Shahid Kapoor.

“Queen”, a middle-class girl’s journey of self-discovery after getting ditched by her fiancé, has been winning Kangana accolades all over. She already has a National Award in her kitty for the role. However, the actress was not present to accept the gong as she rarely attends award shows.

Shahid, 34, re-teamed with his “Kaminey” helmer for his career’s best role of a man deranged by grief and subsequent betrayal by his close ones.

The actor dedicated his award to Bhardwaj for giving him the opportunity and called the film “scary”.

“I would like to thank Vishal Bhardwaj for this recognition. A very big thank you to him for believing in me.

“Today I am standing here because of him. It was a scary film to do because we thought people will never love and understand this,” said the actor in his acceptance speech.

Earlier, Shahid, one of the best dancers in Bollywood, took to stage to give a power-packed performance on “Bismil”.

Tabu, who played Shahid’s mother in “Haider”, won the Best Supporting Actress award for her multi-layered performance, while co-star Kay Kay Menon bagged the trophy for the Best Negative Role for his portrayal of a shrewd politician.

“Queen” won the award for Best Picture and Story (Bahl, Chaitally Parmar and Parvez Shaikh) apart from the Best Actress trophy.

Anurag Kashyap, one of the producers and editor of the film, expressed his love for fellow director Rajkumar Hirani, while receiving the Best Movie trophy for “Queen”.

“I don’t know what to say. I love you Raju sir (Rajkumar Hirani). I don’t know how this film happened and it happened somehow. When we started the film we didn’t have any money...,” he said.

Hirani won the Best Director gong for Aamir Khan-starrer “PK”, a satire on godmen, after beating Bahl (“Queen”), Bhardwaj (“Haider”), Abhishek Varman (“2 States”) and Imtiaz Ali (“Highway”).

“This film fearlessly talked about religion in the country and I want to thank my father and mother for it. Like Subhash Ghai, I also feel a film is incomplete without the help of technicians and actors,” Hirani said.

Deepika Padukone, who was nominated in the Best Actress category for her stint as a dance teacher in the multi-starrer “Happy New Year”, took home the Woman of the Year award.

The 29-year-old actress dedicated the honour to women across the globe.

“This award is for millions of women,” said the “Finding Fanny” star, who looked gorgeous in a black and maroon saree.

Bollywood’s showman Subhash Ghai was honoured with the Outstanding Contribution to Indian Cinema recognition. It was presented to him by his “Ram Lakhan” stars Jackie Shroff and Anil Kapoor.

“I am going through so many emotions right now. I have so many memories. Over the years one learns, rises and falls.

“This is one of the most wonderful evenings for someone like me, to receive so much love and adulation. I have so many stories to share. I think success and awards are a trap. You achieve these for your past work but then you are expected to keep up that work,” he said in his acceptance speech.

Riteish Deshmukh-starrer “Ek Villain” won three gongs in the musical and supporting categories.

The actor took home the Best Supporting Role for portraying a cold-blooded serial killer in the film. The Mohit Suri-directed thriller also won the award for Best Playback Singer (male) for Ankit Tiwari (‘Galliyan’) and Best Lyrics.

It was a big night for Riteish, who was accompanied by wife Genelia, as he was also given the ‘Outstanding Contribution to a Regional Film’ honour, which is a new category introduced this time at IIFA. The couple’s home production, Marathi film “Lai Bhaari”, won the honour.

“I dedicate my wins to my newly born son. Last year has been amazing for me because I played a negative role for the first time. I am lucky that both my stints as hero and villain in ‘Lai Bhaari’ and ‘Ek Villain’ were appreciated,” Riteish said.

Alia Bhatt-Arjun Kapoor starrer “2 States”, which lead the nomination list with nine nods, only managed to win one award in the Best Music Direction category.

Alia’s other film “Highway” and Shah Rukh Khan-Deepika starrer heist drama “Happy New Year” were snubbed despite having bagged nods in key categories.

“Heropanti” stars Tiger Shroff and Kriti Sanon took home the Best Debut Male and Female awards,respectively.

The Best Debut Director gong was shared by “Mary Kom” helmer Omung Kumar and Sajid Nadiadwala for “Kick”.

Omung thanked Olympian boxer Mary Kom for helping him maker her biopic, which starred actress Priyanka Chopra in the titular role.

“This is the last award of the season... thanks, Mary Kom, for letting us make a film on you,” Omung said.

Varun Dhawan won the Best Actor in a Comic Role award for playing a casanova in his father, David Dhawan’s directorial venture “Main Tera Hero”. David received the trophy on Varun’s behalf owing to the actor’s absence from the ceremony. — PTI