'Padmaavat' and 'Sanju' make their way to IFF of Melbourne Awards 2018

The Indian Film Festival of Melbourne (IFFM) - the southern hemisphere's greatest annual celebration of Indian cinema - today announces details for their much anticipated 2018 program.

Taking place from 10-22 August under the unifying theme of 'Inclusion', this year's Festival offers all Australians the opportunity to explore the richness and diversity of contemporary Indian cinema, from Bollywood box-office hits, documentaries and art-house premieres, to a Bollywood dance competition and master classes with key figures from the Indian film industry.

This year's competition section also portrays the diversity of Indian cinema proudly. The jury members will choose between 6 categories. The categories are Best Film, Best Indie Film, Best Actor, Best Director, Best Supporting Role and Best Director. The nominations under each category have been given below.

BEST FILM: Pad Man, Hichki, Padmaavat, Sanju, Secret Superstar, Raazi, Mahanati, Rangasthalam                                                     

BEST INDIE FILM: In the shadows, Village Rockstars, Balekempa, Up, Down and Sideways (Documentary), Mayurakshi, Garbage, Sir, Love Sonia                                       

BEST ACTOR: Ranbir Kapoor for Sanju, Varun Dhawan for October, Ranveer Singh for Padmaavat, Akshay Kumar for Padman, Manoj Bajpayee for In the Shadows, Fahadh Faasil for The Exhibit and the Eyewitness, Soumitra Chaterjee for Mayurakshi, Shahid Kapoor for Padmaavat          

BEST SUPPORTING PERFORMANCE: Vicky Kaushal for Sanju, Ranvir Shorey - In the Shadows, Samantha Akkineni - Mahanati, Richa Chadha - Love Sonia, Freida Pinto - Love Sonia, Trimala Adhikari - Garbage, Meher Vij- Secret Superstar

BEST DIRECTOR: Rajkumar Hirani for Sanju, Shoojit Sircar for October, R. Balki for Padman, Siddharth P Malhotra for Hichki, Advait Chandan for Secret Superstar, Sanjay Leela Bhansali for Padmaavat, Rima Das for Village Rockstars, Dipesh Jain for In the Shadows, Ere Gowda for Balekempa, Suresh Triveni For Tumhari Sulu, Meghna Gulzar For Raazi, Tabrez Noorani - Love Sonia, Rohena Gera for Sir        

BEST ACTRESS:  Rani Mukherjee for Hichki, Vidya Balan for Tumhari Sulu, Deepika Padukone for Padmaavat, Alia Bhatt for Raazi, Bhanita Das for Village Rockstars, Keerthy Suresh for Mahanati, Tillotama Shome for Sir, Zaira Wasim for Secret Superstar

Films like Konkona Sharma's Death in the Gunj, Alankrita Shrivastava's Lipstick under my Burkha, Shakun Batra's Kapoor and Sons, Vikramaditya Motwane's Trapped, Nitesh Tiwari's Dangal, M Manikandan's Kaaka Muttai, Vishal Bharadwaj's Haider and Rahul Bose's Poorna have all been winners at the IFFM Awards.