IFFM 2026 award nominations: Aamir Khan, Mammootty get acting nods, ‘Saiyaara’, ‘Haq’ lead Best Film list - The Hindu

The 17th Indian Film Festival of Melbourne (IFFM) unveiled the official nominations for the awards for this year’s edition on Wednesday (July 8, 2026). The nominations feature films from across different languages together. Indian Film Festival of Melbourne 2025 to honour cinema icon Ritwik Ghatak with retrospective on birth centenary storyline 1 In the list, Aamir Khan (Sitaare Zameen Par), Ranveer Singh (Dhurandhar) and Rishab Shetty (Kantara: A Legend - Chapter 1) get acting nods for Best Performance (Male) while Haq, Lokah Chapter 1: Chandra and Sitaare Zameen Par are nominated for Best Film. On the other hand, Rani Mukerji (Mardaani 3), Aneet Padda (Saiyaara) and Kalyani Priyadarshan (Lokah Chapter 1: Chandra) lead the nominations for Best Performance (Female). ‘Sitaare Zameen Par’ movie review: Aamir Khan’s seasonal moral science class storyline 1 ‘Kantara Chapter 1’ movie review: Rishab Shetty delivers a spectacle-heavy prequel high on entertainment value storyline 1 ‘Mardaani 3’ movie review: A Rani Mukerji project that loses steam after half-time storyline 1 ‘Saiyaara’ movie review: Ahaan Panday and Aneet Padda make this bittersweet romance sparkle storyline 1 ‘Angammal’, ‘Bad Girl’ and other Tamil titles to shine at Indian Film Festival of Melbourne 2025 ‘Angammal’, ‘Bad Girl’ and other Tamil titles to shine at Indian Film Festival of Melbourne 2025 The 2025 edition of the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne will be held from August 14 to 24 ‘Angammal’, ‘Bad Girl’ and other Tamil titles to shine at Indian Film Festival of Melbourne 2025 storyline 1 The nominations also include documentary films as well as movies from Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Afghanistan in separate categories. Here’s a complete list of all nominations: Best Film Haq (Hindi) Jarann (Marathi) Kantara: A Legend - Chapter 1 (Kannada) Lokah Chapter 1: Chandra (Malayalam) Saiyaara (Hindi) Sitaare Zameen Par (Hindi) Sharthopor (Bengali) The Great Shamsuddin Family (Hindi) Best Indie Film Ammang Haelbeda (Don’t Tell Mother) (Kannada) Full Plate (Hindi) Kikkran De Phull (Flowers of Acacia) (Punjabi) Lala and Poppy (Hindi) Mayilaa - Semmalar Annam (Tamil) Members of the Problematic Family (Tamil) Not a Hero (Assamese, Hindi, English) Pankhudiyaan (Petals in the Wind) (Hindi) Best Director Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari — System (Hindi) Chandrasish Ray — Porshi (Bengali) Mohit Suri — Saiyaara (Hindi) Ramalingam Gowtham — Members of the Problematic Family (Tamil) Rima Das — Not a Hero (Assamese, English, Hindi) Rishab Shetty — Kantara: A Legend - Chapter 1 (Kannada) R.S. Prasanna — Sitaare Zameen Par (Hindi) Shazia Iqbal — Dhadak 2 (Hindi) Best Performance (Male) Aamir Khan — Sitaare Zameen Par (Hindi) Ahaan Pandey — Saiyaara (Hindi) Bhuman Bhargav Das — Kein Held (Not a Hero) (Assamese) Dulquer Salmaan — Kaantha (Tamil) Mammootty — KalamKaval: The Venom Beneath (Malayalam) Ranveer Singh — Dhurandhar (Hindi) Rishab Shetty — Kantara: A Legend - Chapter 1 (Kannada) Sanjay Mishra — Vadh 2 (Hindi) Best Performance (Female) Aneet Padda — Saiyaara (Hindi) Kalyani Priyadarshan — Lokah Chapter 1: Chandra (Malayalam) Kirti Kulhari — Full Plate (Hindi) Neena Gupta — Vadh 2 (Hindi) Rajshri Deshpande — Baapya (Marathi) Rani Mukerji — Mardaani 3 (Hindi) Rituparna Sengupta — Bela (Bengali) Yami Gautam Dhar — Haq (Hindi) Best Series Baai Tujhyapayi (Marathi) Kohrra: Season 2 (Punjabi) Matka King (Hindi) Real Kashmir Football Club (Hindi) Sapne Vs Everyone (Hindi) The Ba**ds of Bollywood* (Hindi) Perfect Family (Hindi) Freedom at Midnight: Season 2 (Hindi) Best Performance (Male) – Series Ambrish Verma — Sapne Vs Everyone: Season 2 (Hindi) Arif Zakaria — Freedom at Midnight: Season 2 (Hindi) Barun Sobti — Kohrra: Season 2 (Punjabi) Kunal Khemu — Single Papa (Hindi) Paramvir Singh Cheema — Sapne Vs Everyone: Season 2 (Hindi) Manav Kaul — Real Kashmir Football Club (Hindi) Manoj Pahwa — Perfect Family (Hindi) Vijay Varma — Matka King (Hindi) Best Performance (Female) – Series Anandhi — Arabia Kadali (Telugu) Huma Qureshi — Maharani: Season 4 (Hindi) Lakshmi Priyaa Chandramouli — Kuttram Purinshavan: The Guilty One (Tamil) Mona Singh — Kohrra: Season 2 (Punjabi) Rasika Dugal — Delhi Crime: Season 3 (Hindi) Seema Pahwa — Perfect Family (Hindi) Shefali Shah — Delhi Crime: Season 3 (Hindi) Swastika Mukherjee — Kaalipotka (Bengali) Best Documentary Film Flying Tigers — Madhusree Dutta (Bengali, English, Mandarin, German, Polish) Working Girls — Paromita Vohra (Hindi, Tamil, Marathi, Bengali) Loving Karma — Johnny Burke, Andrew Hinton (English, Monpa, Hindi) Njaan Revathi (I Am Revathi) — P. Abhijith (Tamil) Breaking the Code — Ben Rekhi, Swetlana (English) The Gas Station Attendant — Karla Murthy (English) Music in a Village Named 1PB — Surabhi Sharma (Hindi) Bride of Aravan — Lesley Branagan (Tamil) Best Film from the Subcontinent Sand City — Mahde Hasan (Bangladesh) Roid — Mejbaur Rahman Sumon (Bangladesh) Spying Stars — Vimukthi Jayasundara (Sri Lanka) Ek Mutthi Badal (My Share of Sky) — Sahara Sharma (Nepal) No Good Men — Shahrbanoo Sadat (Afghanistan) Goodbye Sisters — Alexander Murphy (Nepal) Delupi — Mohammad Touqir Islam (Bangladesh) In the Room — Brishkay Ahmed (Afghanistan) The 17th Indian Film Festival of Melbourne will feature a programme of film premieres, special screenings, panel discussions, masterclasses, industry events, cultural celebrations. It will take place August 13 to August 23, 2026 and is supported by the Victorian Government.