#IIFA: 'Vedha helped me unleash madness inside me'

The IIFA weekend saw a bevy of Bollywood stars, with green carpet arrivals, performances and awards.

Hrithik Roshan and Alia Bhatt won the Best Actor awards for their performances in Vikram Vedha and Gangubai Kathiawadi respectively.

Ajay Devgn's thriller Drishyam 2 won Best Picture while R Madhavan won the Best Director award for Rocketry: The Nambi Effect.

A look at the winners of the night.

Hrithik Roshan wins the Best Performance in a Leading Role (Male) for Vikram Vedha.

In his acceptance speech, Hrithik said, 'I have lived with Vedha for many years now. It began right here in Abu Dhabi. I gave my first shot as Vedha here...it feels like life has come full circle to me. Vedha helped me unleash madness inside me which I did not know that it exist. Thank you universe and thank you Vedha for helping me discover that madness and helping me discover the strength to hold that madness.'

Alia skipped IIFA as her maternal grandfather Narendra Razdan is in critical condition and hospitalised.

But she wrote a grateful note: 'Thank you so much @iifa. Sorry, I couldn't be there in person to receive the award. A special thank you to the audience for your constant support. This brings me and the entire team so much joy.'

 

R Madhavan wins the Best Director award for Rocketry: The Nambi Effect.

What's the best compliment he's got for his film? He tells us here.

 

After making a splash at Cannes, Mouni Roy heads to IIFA to pick up her award for Best Performance in a Supporting Role (Female) for Brahmastra Part One: Shiva. Madhavan and Esha Gupta, also fresh from Cannes, gave away the award.

 

Riteish Deshmukh and Genelia D'Souza receive the Outstanding Achievement in Regional Cinema for their Marathi film, Ved.

 

Anil Kapoor wins the Best Performance in a Supporting Role (Male) for JugJugg Jeeyo.

'There is no one better than Anil sir to play it,' says the film's director Raj Mehta.

 

The Best Debut (Female) goes to Khushalii Kumar for Dhokha: Round D Corner.

 

The Best Debut (Male) is shared by Shantanu Maheshwari for Gangubai Kathiawadi and Babil Khan for Qala, Madhur Bhandarkar and Raashii Khanna give away the award.

 

Babil Khan expressed his gratitude: 'You debut only once and to be acknowledged for that is absolutely motivating. I will strive harder and wish harder, I am banking on everyone's love and blessing now to win the best actor for IIFA in the future.'

He shared his fondest memories with his father: 'I miss him (Irrfan Khan) every day of my life. When I was growing up, I did not have a lot of friends and he was my singular friend. Laughing with him is my most memorable memory with Baba.'

Would he like to recreate any Irrfan performance? 'No,' Babil said firmly. 'Why would you try to recreate Baba's performance? I think he did it really well.'

 

The Best Playback Singer (Female) goes to Shreya Ghoshal for Rasiya from Brahmastra Part One: Shiva.

The Best Playback Singer (Male) goes to Arijit Singh for Kesariya in the same film. The song also won Amitabh Bhattacharya an award for Best Lyrics.

 

The Best Music award goes to Pritam Chakraborty for Brahmastra Part One: Shiva.

 

The Best Story (Adapted) goes to Aamil Keeyan Khan, above, and Abhishek Pathak for Drishyam 2. The award was given away by Seema Sajdeh.

Pathak says he stepped up to direct the film, as he 'had a certain vision for the film' when he bought the rights and 'didn't want it to get lost in translation'.

 

The Best Story (Original) goes to Jasmeet K Reen, above, and Parveez Sheikh for Darlings. Boman Irani and Nushrratt Bharuccha do the honours.

Reen, who is also the film's director, tells a story of domestic abuse because she has been affected by it.

 

A R Rahman gives the Outstanding Achievement in Indian Cinema award to Kamal Haasan.

As Haasan received the trophy, everyone, including Salman Khan, stood up and applauded.

Haasan took to the mike and said, 'I grew up in cinema. I came here when I was three and half. You have been kind enough to allow me to survive till this stage. I am very thankful and humbled.'

 

The Outstanding Achievement for Fashion in Cinema was given to Manish Malhotra.