To reveal some of the details about the upcoming International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) Awards, Bollywood stars Salman Khan, Katrina Kaif and Alia Bhatt addressed a press conference in Mumbai last night, and later got together for a live video conference with five cities globally – New York, London, Dubai, Chicago and Houston.
Katrina said about her performance at IIFA, “Its been five-six years since I was a part of IIFA. They have the best stadium, the best set up. I think the choreography (for my performance) is amazing and I am hoping that it is memorable.” Salman Khan added, “She does not need to worry about her performance. She is one of the best dancers we have in the industry.”
Salman added about Alia, “Actually, there is a tie between Katrina and Alia.” Alia replied saying, “Please, I am a terrible dancer. I am just cute.” Salman replied, “Well, you can’t be worse than me and I am not even cute.”
Filmmaker Karan Johar, whose directorial Ae Dil Hai Mushkil is the front-runner in the nomination pack of the 18th edition of the awards, will host the gala night in New York, it was announced.
Ae Dil Hai Mushkil has a chance to win in eight categories, followed by MS Dhoni: The Untold Story which has been nominated across seven categories.
The IIFA Weekend and Awards, to be held July 13-15, will be a celebration of Indian film, music, fashion and dance.
For attendees of the IIFA Rocks 2017 show a day before the main event, a celebration of 25 years of Oscar winning talent AR Rahman has been organised. It will also feature a medley of musicians including Rahman, Diljit Dosanjh, Benny Dayal, Javed Ali, Neeti Mohan, Jonita Gandhi and Haricharan Seshadri. Riteish Deshmukh and Manish Paul will host IIFA Rocks.
The awards night, to be telecast live on Colors, has a star-studded line-up of performers. Apart from Salman, Katrina and Alia, audiences can look forward to Shahid Kapoor, Sushant Singh Rajput and Kriti Sanon among others on the stage at the Metlife Stadium.
The nominations of the Popular Awards category are put up for public voting via the IIFA website. Voting for the awards is open till June 18, and can be done online here. The nominations for the major categories are listed below, and the full list is on the official website.
Best film
Dangal
Kapoor & Sons
Neerja
Pink
Sultan
Udta Punjab
Best Actor in a leading role
Aamir Khan for Dangal
Amitabh Bachchan for Pink
Ranbir Kapoor for Ae Dil Hai Mushkil
Salman Khan for Sultan
Shah Rukh Khan for Fan
Best Actress in a leading role
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan for Sarbjit
Alia Bhatt for Udta Punjab
Alia Bhatt for Dear Zindagi
Anushka Sharma for Ae Dil Hai Mushkil
Sonam Kapoor for Neerja
Vidya Balan for Kahaani 2
Best Director
Abhishek Chaubey for Udta Punjab
Ali Abbas Zafar for Sultan
Karan Johar for Ae Dil Hai Mushkil
Nitesh Tiwari for Dangal
Ram Madhvani for Neerja
Shakun Batra for Kapoor & Sons