IIFA Awards 2018: Irrfan Khan, Sridevi and Tumhari Sulu Bag Top Honours

Bollywood's awards season hit its apex Sunday evening with the 19th edition of International Indian Film Academy Awards ceremony. Veteran star Sridevi was posthumously awarded Best Actress for her portrayal of a vengeful mother in Hindi crime thriller Mom, while actor Irrfan Khan, who is currently undergoing cancer treatment in the UK, was named Best Actor for playing the role of a Delhi-based businessman Raj Batra in Hindi Medium.

Vidya Balan-starrer Tumhari Sulu, which had scored a maximum of seven nominations at the IIFA 2018, bagged the Best Picture honour. The film revovles around a middle-class housewife Sulu (played by Balan) whose life changes when she becomes the host of a late night radio show.

Saket Chaudhary took home Best Director award for Hindi Medium, which explains how education that is supposed to be an instrument of information and enlightenment has turned into a tool to create inequality. Meher Vij won Best actress in Supporting Role for her spectacular performance of Najma, a victim of domestic violence and a mother of two, in Secret Superstar.

Mom was the standout in the acting categories, earning Nawazuddin Siddiqui an award for Best Actor in a supporting role, too.

Sridevi's producer husband Boney Kapoor got emotional as he collected her Best actress award at the ceremony from Kriti Sanon. In an emotional speech, Boney Kapoor said, "I dedicate this award to the entire team of 'Mom'."

IIFA also paid tribute to Vinod Khanna, Shashi Kapoor and Sridevi for their immense contribution to the Indian film industry by bestwoing the golden torphies upon them. Khanna's award was accepted by veteran filmmaker Ramesh Sippy. Rishi Kapoor collected Shashi Kapoor's award. While actor Anil Kapoor and Boney took Sridevi's trophy.

"I have mixed emotions today. I miss her every minute and second of my life. I still feel she is around here....I want you all to support Janhvi like you supported her mother..." said a teary-eyed Boney while accepting the honour.

Veteran actor Anupam Kher was honoured with the Outstanding Achievement award by his co-star of many films, Anil Kapoor.

"It is a great feeling when your own peers celebrate your achievements and as I have been saying, this is just the interval point of what I am doing and my seconds half of journey starts now. It started with my 500th film.... I told myself this is the interval point with The Big Sick and after that I have done 15 films in the last one year both international and national," Kher told IANS.

In addition, Best Story award went to director Amit V Masurkar for Newton, which revolves around Newton Kumar, played by Rajkummar Rao, a rookie government clerk who is sent on election duty to a naxal-controlled town in the conflict-ridden jungles of Chhattisgarh, India. Nitesh Tiwari and Shreyas Jain picked up Best Screenplay award for Bareilly Ki Barfi.

In music categories, Meghna Mishra was named Best Playback Singer (Female) for Main Kaun Hoon from Secret Superstar, while Arijit Singh bagged Best Singer Playback (Male) trophy for his romantic track Hawayein from Jab Harry Met Sejal. Amaal Mallik, Tanishk Bagchi and Akhil Sachdeva won Best Music Direction award for Badrinath Ki Dulhania.

The 2000-seater Siam Niramit theatre saw thousands of Bollywood fanatics coming to the event to catch a glimpse of their favourite stars. A string of A-listers like Ranbir Kapoor, Varun, Arjun, Kriti Sanon, Bobby Deol and Shraddha set the stage on fire with their power-packed performances.