The International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) has announced the winners of the IIFA Awards 2026 and IIFA Digital Awards 2026, recognising performances, filmmaking, music and technical contributions across Indian cinema and digital entertainment.
Among the major highlights, Dhurandhar emerged as one of the leading titles at the 26th edition, receiving awards across direction, performances, original storytelling, music and several technical categories. Saiyaara also secured multiple honours, while Chhaava received recognition for its sound, background score and visual effects.
The digital entertainment categories brought recognition to titles including Baramulla, Stolen, The Ba**ds of Bollywood* and Paatal Lok S2. The complete list was released by IIFA across its popular, technical, debut, film, series and other digital categories.
Dhurandhar dominates the IIFA Awards 2026
Aditya Dhar’s Dhurandhar featured prominently among this year’s winners. Aditya Dhar received the award for Best Director, while Ranveer Singh was recognised for his performance in a leading role. Sanjay Dutt won in the supporting male performance category, and Akshaye Khanna received the award for his negative-role performance.
The film also secured awards for Best Story (Original), Music Direction, Cinematography, Screenplay, Dialogues, Editing and Sound Design.
Shashwat Sachdev received the award for Music Direction, while Vikash Nowlakha was recognised for Cinematography. Aditya Dhar received honours for both Screenplay and Dialogues, and Shivkumar V. Panicker won for Editing. Bishwadeep Chatterjee was recognised for Sound Design.
In the Best Story (Adapted) category, Basharat Peer, Sumit Roy and Neeraj Ghaywan were jointly recognised for Homebound.
Saiyaara and Chhaava receive multiple honours
Saiyaara secured several awards in the popular categories. Aneet Padda received the award for Performance in a Leading Role (Female), while Faheem Abdullah won for Playback Singer (Male). Shreya Ghoshal was recognised in the Playback Singer (Female) category for the female reprise version of the title song.
Lyricist Irshad Kamil also received the award for Lyrics for Saiyaara.
Chhaava was another notable winner, with recognition across technical categories. A.R. Rahman received the award for Background Score, while Alok De won for Sound Mixing. Assemblage Entertainment and Redefine were jointly recognised for Special Effects (Visual).
Meanwhile, Bosco Leslie Martis received the award for Choreography for the song ‘Aavan Jaavan’ from War 2.
In the international film category, Avatar: Fire & Ash received recognition, with 20th Century Studios (Distributors of India), Jon Landau and James Cameron listed as winners.
Rasha Thadani and Ahaan Panday recognised for debut performances
The debut categories recognised two emerging performers.
Rasha Thadani received the Best Female Debut award for Azaad, while Ahaan Panday won Best Male Debut for his performance in Saiyaara.
IIFA Digital Awards 2026: Baramulla leads the film categories
The IIFA Digital Awards 2026 recognised achievements in films released in the digital entertainment space.
Baramulla received the Best Picture award, with B62 Studios, Netflix Entertainment Services India LLP and Jio Studios listed among the winners.
Karan Tejpal was recognised for Direction for Stolen. The acting categories also honoured Sanya Malhotra for her leading performance in Mrs, while Abhishek Banerjee received the award for his leading performance in Stolen.
Monika Panwar won for her supporting performance in Nishaanchi 2, and Avinash Tiwary was recognised in the supporting male performance category for The Mehta Boys.
The Best Story (Original) award went to Aditya Dhar, Monal Thakkar and Aditya Suhas Jambhale for Baramulla.
The Ba***ds of Bollywood and Paatal Lok S2 shine in series categories
In the series categories, The Ba**ds of Bollywood* received the Best Picture award, with Red Chillies Entertainments Pvt. Ltd. and Netflix Entertainment Services India LLP listed as winners. Aryan Khan was recognised for Direction for the series.
The supporting performance awards went to Anya Singh and Raghav Juyal.
Paatal Lok S2 also secured multiple honours. 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 received the Best Story (Original) award, with Sudip Sharma, Tamal Sen, Rahul Kanojia and Abhishek Banerjee credited as winners.
The Roshans and The Traitors win in other digital categories
The IIFA Digital Awards also recognised non-fiction and music-related content.
The Roshans received the Best Docuseries/DocuFilm award, with Netflix Entertainment Services India LLP, Rakesh Roshan and Shashi Ranjan listed among the winners.
In the Best Reality/Non-Scripted category, The Traitors was recognised, with BBC Studios, All 3 Media and Prime Video named as winners.
Ujwal Gupta received the Best Title Track award for ‘Number 1’ from The Ba**ds of Bollywood*.
Complete winners list
IIFA Awards 2026 – Popular categories
| Category | Winner | Film |
|---|---|---|
| Direction | Aditya Dhar | Dhurandhar |
| Leading Role (Female) | Aneet Padda | Saiyaara |
| Leading Role (Male) | Ranveer Singh | Dhurandhar |
| Supporting Role (Female) | Huma Qureshi | Jolly LLB 3 |
| Supporting Role (Male) | Sanjay Dutt | Dhurandhar |
| Negative Role | Akshaye Khanna | Dhurandhar |
| Music Direction | Shashwat Sachdev | Dhurandhar |
| Best Story (Original) | Aditya Dhar | Dhurandhar |
| Best Story (Adapted) | Basharat Peer, Sumit Roy, Neeraj Ghaywan | Homebound |
| Lyrics | Irshad Kamil | Saiyaara |
| Playback Singer (Male) | Faheem Abdullah | Saiyaara |
| Playback Singer (Female) | Shreya Ghoshal | Saiyaara |
Best International Film: Avatar: Fire & Ash – 20th Century Studios (Distributors of India), Jon Landau and James Cameron.
IIFA Awards 2026 – Technical categories
| Category | Winner | Film |
|---|---|---|
| Cinematography | Vikash Nowlakha | Dhurandhar |
| Screenplay | Aditya Dhar | Dhurandhar |
| Dialogues | Aditya Dhar | Dhurandhar |
| Editing | Shivkumar V. Panicker | Dhurandhar |
| Choreography | Bosco Leslie Martis | War 2 |
| Sound Design | Bishwadeep Chatterjee | Dhurandhar |
| Sound Mixing | Alok De | Chhaava |
| Background Score | A.R. Rahman | Chhaava |
| Special Effects (Visual) | Assemblage Entertainment and Redefine | Chhaava |
Choreography award: ‘Aavan Jaavan’ from War 2.
IIFA Awards 2026 – Debut categories
| Category | Winner | Film |
|---|---|---|
| Best Female Debut | Rasha Thadani | Azaad |
| Best Male Debut | Ahaan Panday | Saiyaara |
IIFA Digital Awards 2026 – Film categories
| Category | Winner(s) | Film |
|---|---|---|
| Best Picture | B62 Studios, Netflix Entertainment Services India LLP, Jio Studios | Baramulla |
| Direction | Karan Tejpal | Stolen |
| Leading Role (Female) | Sanya Malhotra | Mrs |
| Leading Role (Male) | Abhishek Banerjee | Stolen |
| Supporting Role (Female) | Monika Panwar | Nishaanchi 2 |
| Supporting Role (Male) | Avinash Tiwary | The Mehta Boys |
| Best Story (Original) | Aditya Dhar, Monal Thakkar, Aditya Suhas Jambhale | Baramulla |
IIFA Digital Awards 2026 – Series categories
| Category | Winner(s) | Series |
|---|---|---|
| Best Picture | Red Chillies Entertainments Pvt. Ltd., Netflix Entertainment Services India LLP | The Ba***ds of Bollywood |
| Direction | Aryan Khan | The Ba***ds of Bollywood |
| Leading Role (Female) | Tillotama Shome | Paatal Lok S2 |
| Leading Role (Male) | Jaideep Ahlawat | Paatal Lok S2 |
| Supporting Role (Female) | Anya Singh | The Ba***ds of Bollywood |
| Supporting Role (Male) | Raghav Juyal | The Ba***ds of Bollywood |
| Best Story (Original) | Sudip Sharma, Tamal Sen, Rahul Kanojia, Abhishek Banerjee | Paatal Lok S2 |
IIFA Digital Awards 2026 – Other categories
| Category | Winner(s) | Title |
|---|---|---|
| Best Docuseries/DocuFilm | Netflix Entertainment Services India LLP, Rakesh Roshan, Shashi Ranjan | The Roshans |
| Best Reality/Non-Scripted | BBC Studios, All 3 Media, Prime Video | The Traitors |
| Best Title Track | Ujwal Gupta | Number 1 – The Ba***ds of Bollywood |
Official reference: IIFA .
