Nominations for Indian Film Festival of Melbourne 2023 (IFFM 2023) announced, Alia Bhatt's Darlings, Mani Ratnam’s PS2 lead the nominations

The nominations for the fourteenth edition of the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne (IFFM) have been announced. Touted to be the largest Indian film festival outside India, sees one more addition to its esteemed jury panel. And the ‘prestigious addition’; is in the form of the Oscar-winning Australian filmmaker Bruce Beresford, who is known for films like ‘Driving Miss Daisy’ and ‘The Contract’. With its finger on the pulse of the industry, the festival has embraced the changing landscape of film consumption by introducing the OTT Awards. The same was introduced in the year 2021.

After meticulously scrutinizing the many films and series from across Indian cinema, the IFFM advisory committee, have now finalized the nominations of films and series which have released between 1st June 20222 to 31st May 2023. Amongst the other nominations, the ones who are leading the way include ‘Darlings’, ‘Monica O My Darling’, ‘Ponniyin Selvan’, ‘Kantara’ amongst others. These films are leading the nominations in the categories of Best Film, Best Actor, and Best Actress. And, as for the OTT category nominations, series including ‘Trial By Fire’, ‘Jubilee’ and ‘Delhi Crime Season 2’ are leading the nomination list. For the OTT nominations, only series on platforms which are available to be streamed in the Australian market have been considered.

The winners of ‘IFFM 2023 Awards’ will be announced during the annual gala night on 11th August 2023 which is set to be hosted at the iconic Hamer Hall in Melbourne, one of the world's most sophisticated concert halls.

Here is the complete list of nominees:

Best Film

Bhediya – Hindi

Brahmastra – Hindi

Darlings – Hindi

Jogi – Punjabi

Kantara – Kannada

Monica, O My Darling – Hindi

Pathaan – Hindi

Ponniyin Selvan 1 and 2 – Tamil

Sita Ramam – Telugu

Best Indie Film

Aatma Pamphlet – Marathi

Agra – Hindi

All India Rank – Hindi

Family – Malayalam

Gulmohar – Hindi

Hadinelentu (Seventeeners) – Kannada

Joram – Hindi

Pine Cone – Hindi

The Storyteller – Hindi

Tora’s Husband – Assamese

Zwigato – Hindi

Best Director

Anant Mahadevan – The Storyteller

Anurag Kashyap – Kennedy

Ashish Avinash Bende - Aatma-Pamphlet (Autobio-Pamphlet)

Devashish Makhija – Joram

Don Palathara - Family

Kanu Behl - Agra

Mani Ratnam – Ponniyin Selvan 1 and 2

Nandita Das – Zwigato

Prthivi Konanur – Hadinelentu (Seventeeners)

Rima Das – Tora’s Husband

Siddharth Anand – Pathaan

Vasan Bala – Monica, O My Darling

Best Actor (Male)

Dulquer Salmaan - Sita Ramam

Kapil Sharma - Zwigato

Manoj Bajpayee - Joram

Manoj Bajpayee - Gulmohar

Mohit Agarwal - Agra

Paresh Rawal - The Storyteller

Rajkummar Rao – Monica, O My Darling

Rishab Shetty - Kantara

Shah Rukh Khan - Pathaan

Vijay Varma - Darlings

Vikram – Ponnyin Selvan 1 and 2

Best Actor (Female)

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan – Ponniyin Selvan 1 and 2

Akshatha Pandavapura – Koli Esru

Alia Bhatt – Darlings

Bhumi Pednekar – Bheed

Kajol - Salaam Venky

Mrunal Thakur – Sita Ramam

Neena Gupta - Vadh

Rani Mukherjee – Mrs Chatterjee Vs Norway

Sai Pallavi – Gargi

Sanya Malhotra – Kathal

Best Series

Dahaad

Delhi Crime Season 2

Farzi

Jubilee

SHE Season 2

Suzhal: The Vortex

The Broken News

Trial By Fire

Best Actor (Male) - Series

Abhay Deol – Trial By Fire

Abhishek Bachchan – Breathe - Into The Shadows Season 2

Aparshakti Khurana – Jubilee

Prosenjit Chatterjee – Jubilee

Shahid Kapoor – Farzi

Sidhant Gupta – Jubilee

Vijay Sethupathi – Farzi

Vijay Varma – Dahaad

Best Actor (Female) – Series

Rajshri Deshpande – Trial By Fire

Rasika Dugal – Delhi Crime Season 2

Shefali Shah – Delhi Crime Season 2

Shriya Pilgaonkar – The Broken News

Sriya Reddy – Suzhal: The Vortex

Tillotama Shome – Delhi Crime Season 2

Wamiqa Gabbi – Jubilee

Best Documentary

Against The Tide

Dharti Latar Re Horo - (Tortoise Under The Earth)

Fatima

Kucheye Khoshbakht (And, Towards Happy Alleys)

To Kill A Tiger

While We Watched