Actor Irrfan Khan and late veteran actress Sridevi were named the Best Actors at the 19th edition of the IIFA Awards, for their remarkable work in films “Hindi Medium” and “Mom”, respectively.
At a grand event on Sunday here at the Siam Niramit theatre, a story of an ambitious and enterprising housewife, “Tumhari Sulu” bagged the Best Picture honour, while Saket Chaudhary took back the Best Director Award.
Late Sridevi’s husband-producer Boney Kapoor took the award for her performance in “Mom”. He was emotional as he received the award from actress Kriti Sanon.
“I dedicate this award to the entire team of ‘Moma’,” said an emotional Boney.
The award function also honoured late actors Vinod Khanna, Shashi Kapoor and Sridevi.
Vinod’s award was accepted by veteran filmmaker Ramesh Sippy. Rishi Kapoor took Shashi Kapoor’s award. While actor Anil Kapoor and Boney broke down in tears while talking about Sridevi at the gala.
“I have mixed emotions today. I miss her every minute and second of my life. I still feel she is around here….I want you all to support Janhvi like you supported her mother…” said a teary eyed Boney.
Veteran actor actor Anupam Kher was honoured with the Outstanding Achievement award by Anil.
“It is a great feeling when your own peers celebrate your achievements and as I have been saying, this is just the interval point of what I am doing and my seconds half of journey starts now. It started with my 500th film….I told myself this is the interval point with The Big Sick and after that I have done 15 films in the last one year both international and national,” Anupam told IANS.
The 2000-seater Siam Niramit theatre saw thousands of Bollywood fanatics coming to the event to catch a glimpse of their favourite stars.
A string of A-listers like Ranbir Kapoor, Varun, Arjun, Kriti Sanon, Bobby Deol and Shraddha set the stage on fire with their power packed and electrifying performances.
Varun danced on numbers like “Sau Tarah Ke”, “Tama Tama,” and “High Rated Gabru”.
Bobby danced with Romanian TV presenter and singer Iulia Vantur on numbers like “Gupt Gupt, “Soldier soldier”, “Tera Rang Balle Balle” and tracks from his latest release “Race 3”.
Kriti, Arjun and Shraddha also danced to tracks from their films respectively.
(The writer’s trip is at the invitation of IIFA organisers. Durga Chakravarty can be contacted at [email protected])
By Durga Chakravarty
