IFFM Awards 2026 nominations: Sitaare Zameen Par, Saiyaara pip Dhurandhar in films, Kohrra S2 rules the roost in shows

The nominations for the awards at the upcoming edition of the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne were announced on Wednesday.

Updated on: Jul 9, 2026, 07:26:32 IST

By Abhimanyu Mathur

Prefer HTon Google

Share via

Copy link

Aamir Khan's Sitaare Zameen Par, Mohit Suri-directed Saiyaara, and Rishab Shetty's Kantara: A Legend - Chapter 1 were the films that dominated the nominations for the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne Awards 2026, announced on Wednesday. The films left behind Ranveer Singh-starrer Dhurandhar, the highest-grossing Indian film of 2025. In the streaming section of the awards, the second season of Netflix's critically acclaimed series Kohrra bagged the most nominations.

Ahaan Panday and Aneet Padda in Mohit Suri's Saiyaara.

Full list of 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 Zamen 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 Venon 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 Pawa - 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)

About IFFM 2026

The IFFM, billed as the largest celebration of Indian cinema outside India, will be held from August 13 to 23 in Melbourne, with support from the Victorian Government.

The winners will be chosen by a jury comprising some of the most respected names from Australia's film industry and cultural landscape, ensuring a rigorous and globally informed evaluation of this year's nominees.

The 17th edition of the festival will feature an exciting programme of movie premieres, special screenings, panel discussions, masterclasses, industry events, cultural celebrations, and the awards ceremony.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Abhimanyu Mathur
Abhimanyu Mathur is Deputy Editor, Entertainment at Hindustan Times. With almost 15 years of experience in writing about everything from films and TV shows to cricket matches and elections, he inhales and exhales pop culture and news. Currently, he watches movies and TV shows and talks to celebrities for a living, while occasionally writing about them as well. A journalism graduate of Delhi College of Arts and Commerce, Delhi University, Abhimanyu began his career with Hindustan Times at the age of 20, swapping classrooms for newsrooms at an early age. He began his journey in the early days of digital journalism, later switching to the madness of print journalism. Work has led him to far off places like Japan and Jordan, as well as to the interiors of Haryana and the Indo-Pak border. He dabbled in city reporting in places like Meerut, Gurgaon, and Delhi, covered the Olympics and Cricket World Cups, before finding his calling in entertainment and lifestyle during the pandemic. A Rotten Tomatoes Certified Film Critic, he is equally at home covering stories on ground as he is interviewing celebrities and studios, and sometimes prefers to shepherd teams in delivering traffic through the day. Even as his role has evolved from reporter to supervisor over the years, his first love remains writing (and of late, talking on camera). With a good understanding of cinema and its trends, and a keen eye for detail, he continues to spark conversations around showbiz for readers around the world.Read More

Catch every big hit, every wicket with Crickit, a one stop destination for Live Scores, Match Stats, Infographics & much more. Explore now!.

Get more updates from Bollywood, Taylor Swift, Hollywood, Music and Web Series along with Latest Entertainment News at Hindustan Times.