The 18th International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) Awards will be held at the iconic MetLife Stadium in New York City on July 14 and 15. The event had kicked off with the voting process for the awards in April.
The award funtion, which will be hosted by Karan Johar and Saif Ali Khan, will be a star-studded affair. Over the years, IIFA has attracted International stars like Angelina Jolie, Jackie Chan, Hilary Swank and Kevin Spacey among others.
This year’s event will have a special show to celebrate 25 years of A.R. Rahman, featuring the maestro himslef along with Javed Ali, Benny Dayal, Neeti Mohan, Jonita Gandhi, Diljit Dosanjh, and Haricharan.
Nominations
Ae DIl Hai Mushkil is leading with eight nominations in various categories including Best Picture, followed by Sushant Singh Rajput-starrer M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story with seven nominations.
Top Contenders for the Best Picture category are Neerja, Pink, Sultan and Udta Punjab . The nominees for Best Actor in Leading Role (Male) are Shahid Kapoor for Udta Punjab , Ranbir Kapoor for Ae DilHai Mushkil , Shah Rukh Khan for Fan , Sushant Singh Rajput for M.S. Dhoni , Amitabh Bachchan for Pink and Salman Khan for Sultan . The nominees for Leading Role (Female) are Anushka Sharma for Ae Dil Hai Mushkil , Alia Bhatt for Dear Zindagi and UdtaPunjab , Sonam Kapoor for Neerja and Tapsee Pannu for Pink . The Best Director nominations feature Karan Johar ( Ae Dil HaiMushkil ), Neeraj Pandey ( M.S. Dhoni ), Ram Madhvani ( Neerja ), Aniruddha Roy Chowdhary ( Pink ), Ali Abbas Zafar ( Sultan ) and Abhishek Chaubey ( Udta Punjab ).
