New Delhi: The 14th edition of the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne (IFFM) commenced on Friday and the event was inaugurated by Karan Johar, Kartik Aaryan, Mrunal Thakur and Vijay Varma. The annual event honours the remarkable talents of the Indian film fraternity, spanning across movies and OTT series. This year Telugu period romance 'Sita Ramam', Vikramaditya Motwane's show 'Jubilee' and Kanu Behl's independent feature 'Agra' won the top honours at the film festival.
Rani Mukerji won Best Actor (Female) for ‘Mrs Chatterjee Vs Norway’ while and ‘Agra’ actor Mohit Agarwal took home the Best Actor (Male) trophy, while
Dulqur Salman and Mrunal Thakur starrer 'Sita Ramam’ was declared the Best Film. ‘Agra’ was given the Best Indie Film and Kannada filmmaker Prithvi Konanur won the Best Director.
The 2023 IFFM awards paid tribute to the excellence achieved in the past year and showcased the dynamic and evolving landscape of Indian entertainment celebrating the diversity of the films and content from the subcontinent.
In the series category, Motwane's period piece 'Jubilee' got the Best series trophy, the Best Performance (male) went to Vijay Varma for 'Dahaad' and the Best Performance (female) was won by Rajshri Deshpande for ‘Trial By Fire’.
The honorary awards went to Netflix movie 'Darlings' starring Alia Bhatt, Vijay Varma (Equality in Cinema Award) and Shah Rukh Khan’s ‘Pathaan. won People’s Choice Award.
Karan Johar was honoured for completing 25 years as a filmmaker in the film industry and Kartik Aaryan was given the Rising Global Superstar of Indian Cinema trophy.
‘Sita Ramam’ actor Mrunal Thakur received the Diversity in Cinema award, while Bhumi Pednekar got the Disruptor award. The Rainbow Stories Award went to filmmaker Onir for ‘Pine Cone’.
‘To Kill A Tiger’ received the Best Documentary award.
The 14th edition of IFFM runs till August 20.