'Bajirao Mastani' leads IIFA nomination pack

Mumbai: Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh starrer "Bajirao Mastani" has scored a maximum of eight nominations at the 17th edition of the NEXA International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) Awards, scheduled to take place in Madrid, Spain next month. Salman Khan's "Bajrangi Bhaijaan" is following closely behind with seven nominations. The four-day IIFA gala, which aims at bringing the magic of Indian cinema to a new foreign destination every year -- thereby opening doors for Bollywood across the international market -- will this year be held June 23-26. A runaway success for its unique tale, the Shoojit Sircar directed film "Piku" has six nominations and the Farhan Akhtar starrer "Dil Dhadakne Do" received five nominations. Other notable mentions this year who are also up for the awards are "Badlapur - Don't Miss the Beginning", "Talvar" and "Tanu Weds Manu Returns." Priyanka Chopra and Tanvi Azmi, both of whom featured in "Bajirao Mastani", have been nominated in the same category for their Performance in a Supporting Role - Female. Other names who are nominated in this category are Anushka Sharma for "Dil Dhadakne Do, Huma Qureshi for ""Badlapur - Don't Miss the Beginning" and Konkana Sen Sharma for "Talvar" Playback singer Arijit Singh has been nominated twice in Playback Singer- Male for his musical contribution in "Hamari Adhuri Kahani" and "Roy". Talented actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui has garnered three nominations: Performance in a Comic Role, Performance in a Negative Role and Performance in a Supporting Role- Male. "I am always astounded by the number of great films that are released each year that makes Indian cinema grow exponentially with the wealth of talent seen both on screen and off. "The nominations reflect a rich spectrum of the kind of cinematic aptitude Bollywood has seen this year. With the number of talented nominees in the popular categories, I urge fans to see their favourite stars and films win awards by voting soon," said Andre Timmins, director, Wizcraft International Entertainment Pvt Ltd, the organisers of the event. The nominees for the Leading Role Male this year are Varun Dhawan ("Badlapur- Don't Miss The Beginning"), Salman Khan ("Bajrangi Bhaijaan"), Amitabh Bachchan ("Piku"), Ranbir Kapoor ("Tamasha") and Ranveer Singh ("Bajirao Mastani"). The Leading Role Female contenders feature Priyanka Chopra ("Dil Dhadakne Do"), Shraddha Kapoor ("ABCD 2"), Deepika Padukone ("Piku"), Kangana Ranaut for ("Tanu Weds Manu Returns") and Deepika Padukone ( "Bajirao Mastani"). The nominations for Best Picture and Director include a host of names such as Kabir Khan ("Bajrangi Bhaijaan"), Shoojit Sircar ("Piku"), Meghna Gulzar ("Talvar"), Aanand L. Rai ("Tanu Weds Manu Returns") and Sanjay Leela Bhansali ("Bajirao Mastani"). The NEXA IIFA Awards 2016 will be hosted by Farhan Akhtar and Shahid Kapoor this year at IFEMA in Madrid. Besides hosting the highly anticipated awards night, Farhan has also been nominated for his Performance in a Supporting Role- Male for "Dil Dhadakne Do."