IIFA Awards: Shah Rukh wins best actor, ‘Animal’ named best film

Yas Island (Abu Dhabi): Superstar Shah Rukh Khan won the best actor award for his role in “Jawan” while the Ranbir Kapoor-starrer “Animal” was named the best picture at the IIFA Awards 2024 here.

Shah Rukh hosted the awards extravaganza on Saturday night with actor Vicky Kaushal and filmmaker Karan Johar.

“It’s good to be back. I’m extremely grateful for this award. I love awards, I’m greedy about awards… I’m genuinely back and I’m really happy to end the year like this…” he said in his awards acceptance speech.

The superstar was in his element as the host whether it was striking his trademark pose of spreading his arms wide or matching steps with Vicky on the latter’s viral song on “Tauba Tauba”.

Veteran director Mani Ratnam and music maestro A R Rahman were on stage to hand over the trophy to Shah Rukh and the superstar touched the filmmaker’s feet before accepting the trophy.

Rani Mukerji won the best actress trophy for her role in “Mrs. Chatterjee vs Norway” and as she walked back after accepting her award Shah Rukh, her co-star in many films, held her pallu to ensure that it did not touch the ground.

Mukerji dedicated her award to mothers around the world.

“Receiving this award at IIFA feels even more special as it validates the fact that ‘Mrs Chatterjee vs Norway’ made an impact globally in people’s hearts,” she added.

Shah Rukh was also there to lend support to singer Shilpa Rao who won the best playback singer (female) IIFA trophy for “Chaleya” from his film “Jawan” by doing an impromptu dance as Shilpa crooned the opening lines.

Vicky seemed to be enjoying every minute of his hosting duties with Shah Rukh, who sportingly shook a leg with his “Dunki” co-star on “Tauba Tauba”. 

The duo also danced to “Mere Mehboob Mere Sanam” from Shah Rukh’s film “Duplicate”, a song which was recreated for Vicky’s latest film “Bad Newz”. They also performed on the chartbuster “Oo Antava” from “Pushpa: The Rise” to loud cheers from the audience.

Filmmaker Vidhu Vinod Chopra won the best director IIFA award for his film “12th Fail”.

“I want to use this platform to tell the world to cooperate in every way they can to save the world from destruction,” Chopra said in his speech as he underscored the importance of cooperation between countries and people.

Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s film “Animal” also registered wins for Anil Kapoor and Bobby Deol in best supporting actor and best actor in a negative role categories, respectively.

Deol accepted his award and recreated his popular hook step on the song “Jamal Kudu” from the movie, with Vanga providing an empty glass as a prop.

Film’s lead star Ranbir Kapoor, who turned 42 on Saturday, gave the awards a miss this year to celebrate his birthday with family. 

“Animal” also won awards for music direction for Pritam, Vishal Mishra, Manan Bhardwaj, Shreyas Puranik, Jaani, Bhupinder Babbal, Ashim Kemson, Harshavardhan Rameshwar.

For his song “Arjan Vailly”, Babbal won the best playback singer (male) award as well as best lyrics award for “Satranga”, also for “Animal”.

In another segment, Vicky gamely asked Shah Rukh why he didn’t star in Hollywood films such as “Avengers”, “Jurassic Park”, “Spider-Man”, and “The Godfather”.

The superstar quipped he couldn’t star in “Avengers” as one of the infinity stones was embedded in friend and fellow star Salman Khan’s bracelet.

“I have asked him to give it to me so many times, but he just doesn’t listen,” Shah Rukh said wryly.

It would have been awkward saying “Palat palat”, a reference to the popular one-liner from “Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge”, to a dinosaur and that’s why he passed over the offer for “Jurassic Park”, he joked.

Doing “Spider-Man” would have made no point as “mere dimple chup jaate” in the mask, Shah Rukh shot back playfully.

He further quipped that “The Godfather” director Francis Ford Coppolla made many rounds to his house. “But I told him: ‘I don’t need a godfather, I’m an outsider and not a nepo like someone we know’,” pointing to Vicky, who is the son of veteran action choreographer Sham Kaushal.

The awards night also saw a scintillating performance by veteran star Rekha who, along with hundreds of dancers, performed a non-stop 20 minute-set on songs, including “Pardesiya” (“Mr Natwarlal”) and “Piya Tose” (from “Guide”).

Johar’s directorial venture “Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani” also bagged awards.            Actor Shabana Azmi, who played lead star Alia Bhatt’s grandmother in the movie, won the best supporting actress IIFA trophy, while writers Ishita Moitra, Shashank Khaitan, and Sumit Roy won best story award.

Johar asked Azmi, who recently completed 50 years in cinema, to talk about her journey. Her debut film “Ankur”, directed by Shyam Benegal, was released on September 24, 1974.

“You could have knocked me down with a feather if you’d said I’d be acting 50 years later. I’m just terribly honoured and grateful,” she said.

The Outstanding Achievement in Indian Cinema award was given to veteran actor-politician Hema Malini. Shah Rukh Khan gallantly escorted the actor to the stage to receive her award as the popular song “Dream Girl” from the eponymous 1977 film played on.

“I’m delighted and happy to be at this event which promotes Indian cinema all over the world,” she said.

Hema Malini, who gave the superstar a break in 1992’s “Dil Aashna Hai”, said many young men in her constituency Mathura come up to her asking tips to become Shah Rukh Khan.

“I only gave him a chance. He has worked hard and, with full determination, has come up to this level which you people cannot,” she said

“With your blessings, everyone will become a superstar. I didn’t do anything. You gave me a break and that’s why…” said Shah Rukh, promising to visit Mathura some day.

In his opening monologue, Shah Rukh said the Indian film industry earned about USD 1.47 billion (Rs 12,200 crore approximately) last year.

“2023 was the year of parenting,” he said in a lighter vein, adding films “Animal”, “Mrs Chatterjee vs Norway”, “Gadar 2”, “Jailer”, and his own “Jawan” were all family dramas at the core.

From the IIFA Awards stage, the actor also wished new parents Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone for “one of the best parental films which started production last year”. The couple welcomed their first child, a baby girl, earlier this month.

Newcomer Alizeh Agnihotri won the best debutant actor trophy for “Farrey”, while Karan Boolani was named the best debutant director for his film “Thank You For Coming”.

Apart from Shah Rukh and Vicky’s performance on “Tauba Tauba”, the song’s original singer Karan Aujla was also there to sing live. Rapper Honey Singh performed on his new song “Bonita”.

Prabhudeva, Shahid Kapoor, Janhvi Kapoor, Nora Fatehi, Kriti Sanon and Ananya Pandey also performed at the awards ceremony.