Barfi Leads In IIFA 2013 Nominations!

Interestingly, Anurag Basu's critically acclaimed and commercially successful movie Barfi! leads the nominations for the International Indian Film Academy Awards 2013.

Furthermore, movies such as Vicky Donor, Gangs Of Wasseypur and Agneepath have scored major nominations too. In fact, the IIFA Voting Weekend was held in March, and the resulting nominations list reflects the diverse and thriving landscape of the Hindi film industry at present.

Fact-fully, the maximum 13 nominations have been bagged by Barfi!, a story of love between a deaf boy who can’t speak and an autistic girl. It is followed by nine nominations for Shoojit Sircar’s comedy film Vicky Donor, about a sperm donor.

Following closely is Anurag Kashyap’s Gangs of Wasseypur Part I and Karan Johar’s action-packed production Agneepath.

According to Sabbas Joseph, director from Wizcraft International Entertainment and IIFA, said in a statement, it’s been a phenomenal year for the Indian film industry and the nominations for this year will definitely reflect this and that the growth has been remarkable.

Other films in the 14th IIFA nominations

Other films such as Cocktail, Kahaani, Paan Singh Tomar and late filmmaker Yash Chopra’s last directorial role, Jab Tak Hai Jaan, have also secured a place in the 14th IIFA nominations.

This year’s awards ceremony will have directors, Anurag Basu (Barfi!), Anurag Kashyap (Gangs of Wasseypur - Part I), Sujoy Ghosh (Kahaani), Tigmanshu Dhulia (Paan Singh Tomar) and Shoojit Sircar (Vicky Donor) vie for the best director trophy.

In competition for the best picture award are Barfi!, English Vinglish, Gangs of Wasseypur  Part I, Kahaani, Paan Singh Tomar, Talaash  The Answer Lies Within and Vicky Donor.

The best performance in a leading role (male) category will see Hrithik Roshan (Agneepath), Ranbir Kapoor (Barfi!), Manoj Bajpayee (Gangs of Wasseypur — Part II), Shah Rukh Khan (Jab Tak Hai Jaan), Irrfan Khan (Paan Singh Tomar), and Ayushmaan Khurrana (Vicky Donor), in the run.

Among those contending for the best performance in a leading role (female) are Priyanka Chopra (Barfi!), Deepika Padukone (Cocktail), Sridevi (English Vinglish), Huma Qureshi (Gangs of Wasseypur  Part I), Kareena Kapoor (Heroine) and Vidya Balan (Kahaani). Moreover, composer Pritam has bagged two nominations in the category for best music direction for his work in Barfi! and Cocktail, along with A.R. Rahman (Jab Tak Hai Jaan), Ajay-Atul (Agneepath) and Sneha Khanwalkar (Gangs of Wasseypur - Part I).

To conclude, the results of the IIFA Voting Weekend were audited by KPMG. Online voting for the awards will be live on iifa.com, and audiences will be able to cast their votes from May 1 and that the venue and dates for this year’s IIFA gala are likely to be announced early next month.

Congratulations to all in the 14th IIFA nominations.

(AW:Samrat Biswas)