Homebound steals limelight at IFFM 2025

It's a time of celebration for the Homebound team as the film won two big awards at the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne (IFFM) 2025. It bagged the Best Film Award. Apart from that, Neeraj Ghaywan also won the Best Director award for Homebound.

Directed by Neeraj Ghaywan, the film stars Ishaan Khatter, Vishal Jethwa and Janhvi Kapoor.

Karan Johar celebrated the victory of Homebound at the film festivals. Taking to Instagram, he wrote, "Our first WIN! Will always be special #homebound."

The Indian Film Festival of Melbourne (IFFM) 2025 hosted its annual Awards Night, celebrating the best in cinema.

Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan was honoured with the prestigious Excellence in Cinema Award, recognising his decades-long contribution to the craft and his unmatched influence on the industry. On the other hand, Arvind Swami earned the Leadership in Cinema accolade.

He said in a statement, "I have been attracted to telling stories from a very young age. Filmmaking is a collaborative art and this award and recognition wouldn't have been possible without my writers, directors, co-stars, and the audiences who have given me the opportunity to tell the stories and be part of the many stories I have been part of".

Abhishek Bachchan and Geetha Kailasam won the Best Actor (Male) and Best Actor (Female) categories for their performances in I Want To Talk and Angammal, respectively.

"Life has come a full circle for me. I came here in 2022 where I was feted with the excellence in cinema award for my body of work. But this is an emotional moment for me to get the best actor on this very stage and be recognised for my role in a film that's extremely special to me," Abhishek said in a statement.

He added, "It was three years back in Melbourne at this same festival where Shoojit Da offered me this role in I Want To Talk. It was Shoojit Da, who believed in me that I could pull off this role and this role is an ode to my father and my daughter because it's about caring and raising a parent."

Nimisha Sajayan and Jaideep Ahlawat won Best Actor (Female) (Series) and Best Actor (Male) (Series) for their performances in Dabba Cartel and Patal Lok Season 2, respectively. The Tamil film Angammal from director Vipin Radhakrishnan also won Best Indie Film award.

The Bengali film Baksho Bondi (Shadowbox) from directors Tanushree Das and Saumyananda Sahi won in the Equality in Cinema category.

The winners are…

Check out the complete list of IFFM 2025 Awards winners

Best Film- Homebound

Best Director- Neeraj Ghaywan (Homebound)

Best Indie Film- Angammal

Best Actor (Male, Film): Abhishek Bachchan (I Want to Talk)

Special Mention - Best Actor (Male, Film): Gugun Kigpen (Boong)

Best Actor (Female, Film): Geetha Kailasam (Angammal)

Best Series: Black Warrant

Best Actor (Male, Series): Jaideep Ahlawat (Paatal Lok Season 2)

Best Actor (Female, Series): Nimisha Sajayan (Dabba Cartel)

Excellence in Cinema: Aamir Khan

Leadership in Cinema: Arvind Swamy

Disruptor Award: Vir Das

Diversity in Cinema: Aditi Rao Hydari

Equality in Cinema: Baksho Bondi

Best Short Film (India) - Kalar Pencils by Dhananjay Santosh Goregaonkar

Best Short Film (Australia) - Drifters by David Liu

The 16th edition of IFFM will continue till August 24 where Homebound will be the closing film.