The award season 2021 continues as Dadasaheb Phalke International Film Festival Awards honoured the best in film, television, music and the new addition, OTT on Saturday. From Deepika Padukone, Akshay Kumar and Sushmita Sen to Surbhi Chandna and Nora Fatehi, celebrated artistes took home awards for their work last year.
Deepika won the best actor (female) award for her performance in Meghna Gulzar’s Chhapaak that told the story of acid attack survivor Laxmi Aggarwal. Her co-star Vikrant Massey bagged the honour of best actor in a supporting role for his turn in the critically-acclaimed drama, penned by Atika Chohan.
Akshay Kumar was declared best actor (male) in the horror-comedy Laxmii, which was a remake of hit Tamil film Kanchana (2011). Akshay’s co-star in the film, Kiara Advani, won for her performance in the Netflix film Guilty. Kiara took home critics choice best actor (female) for her role of a college girl, whose internalised trauma from being sexually abused as a kid takes the shape of misogyny when her boyfriend rapes their batchmate. Guilty was directed by Ruchi Narain and produced by Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions.
Sushant Singh Rajput, who died last year, was conferred the critic’s best actor (male) posthumously for his outstanding contribution to Hindi cinema. Sushant’s last film was Nitesh Tiwari’s hit friendship drama Chhichhore, in 2019.
The best film honour went to Ajay Devgn-Saif Ali Khan starrer Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior, which also ended up becoming the highest box-office grosser of 2020. Co-starring Kajol, the period film was directed by debutante Om Raut and produced by T-Series.
Anurag Basu was honoured as the best director for his black comedy, Ludo, featuring an ensemble cast, including Abhishek Bachchan, Sanya Malhotra, Rajkummar Rao and Fatima Sana Shaikh. Radhika Madan bagged the best actor in a supporting role award for her performance in Homi Adajani’s dramedy Angrezi Medium, co-starring late Irrfan Khan.
Director Hansal Mehta’s blockbuster show Scam 1992, starring Pratik Gandhi as the infamous stockbroker Harshad Mehta, unsurprisingly received the best series award.
Sushmita Sen bagged the trophy for best actor in a web-series (female) for her stunning performance in Disney Plus Hotstar show Arya. While Bobby Deol was declared the best actor in a web-series (male) for Ashram, directed by Prakash Jha.
Bobby, whose career has got a new lease of life with OTT, expressed his happiness through an Instagram post featuring his mother. “To be in this moment with my mother,” he wrote alongside a picture of his mother hugging and affectionately looking at him as he posed with his trophy.
It was a special night for Bobby Deol for more reasons than one as father and veteran actor Dharmendra was honoured for his contribution to Hindi cinema in a career that spanned several decades.
Nora Fatehi, who has consistently wowed the audience with her dance moves, was awarded the best performer at the ceremony. Overjoyed at the recognition, Nora wrote on Instagram that the award made “all the bleeding knees, back injuries, bruises,cuts, sleepless nights were all worth it.”
The actor-dancer also wrote that the honour will encourage her to do more “performance oriented” songs and films and she is sure soon she will be bagging the best actor award.“This uplifts me and encourages me to do more to create an even bigger impact in the world of entertainment! Cheers to more performance oriented songs and Films, this is the start of my presence in content driven films and performances as an actor now! Lets do this! Next year ill be taking best actress award too… Wait for it,” Nora wrote.
Kunal Kemmu won the best actor in a comic role for his hilarious turn in last year comedy Lootcase. The actor dedicated his win to the team of the film.
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