IIFA 2026 Winners: Dhurandhar Sweeps 12 Awards, Ranveer Singh and Aneet Padda Take Top Acting Honours

The winners of the 26th edition of the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) Awards were announced on Friday, October 30, through IIFA’s official social media channels, with Aditya Dhar’s Dhurandhar emerging as the biggest winner of the night. The spy action drama took home 12 trophies, including Best Film, Best Director for Dhar and Best Actor for Ranveer Singh, sweeping the major popular and technical categories alike.

Dhurandhar’s haul ran deep. Alongside the top honours, Dhar also won Best Story (Original), Best Screenplay and Best Dialogues, while Sanjay Dutt won Best Actor in a Supporting Role and Akshaye Khanna won Best Actor in a Negative Role. The film further collected Best Music Direction for Shashwat Sachdev, Best Cinematography for Vikash Nowlakha, Best Editing for Shivkumar V. Panicker and Best Sound Design for Bishwadeep Chatterjee. The other major film acting honour went to Aneet Padda, who won Best Actress in a Leading Role for Saiyaara, which also won Best Lyrics for Irshad Kamil’s title song and both playback singing awards — Faheem Abdullah for the title song and Shreya Ghoshal for the Saiyaara reprise. Ahaan Panday (Saiyaara) and Rasha Thadani (Azaad) won the debut awards, Huma Qureshi won Best Supporting Actress for Jolly LLB 3, and Avatar: Fire & Ash was named Best International Film.

The digital awards spread the recognition wider. The Ba***ds of Bollywood won Best Web Series for Red Chillies Entertainment, with Aryan Khan winning Best Web Series Direction for the show, while Paatal Lok Season 2 took both leading acting honours for Tillotama Shome and Jaideep Ahlawat. Baramulla won Best Picture in the digital film section, Stolen won Best Direction for Karan Tejpal, and The Roshans won Best Docuseries/DocuFilm.

Here is the Filmverse take: the sweep is significant because it completes Dhurandhar’s journey from box-office phenomenon to awards-season consensus. Films that dominate commercially do not always dominate juries and popular votes, but Dhurandhar’s 12 trophies — spanning direction, writing, acting and craft — suggest the industry sees it as a complete achievement rather than just a hit. The counterweight matters too: Saiyaara’s acting and music wins show that a romantic breakout can still hold its own against a spy epic, and Aryan Khan’s directing prize confirms that the digital categories are no longer a sideshow. With the 27th edition already set for Abu Dhabi on January 22 and 23, 2027, the IIFA story now moves to who hosts and performs next — read our report on Ananya Panday’s hosting debut here: https://filmverse.in/ananya-panday-iifa-hosting-debut-2027/

Sources: Bollywood Hungama, Box Office Worldwide