3 Idiots win big at IIFA awards

Aamir Khan starrer 3 Idiots swept the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) awards this year bagging eight honours including Best Film and megastar Amitabh Bachchan took home the Best Actor trophy for his role as a progeria-afflicted child in Paa.

The Best Actress award was shared by Vidya Balan for Paa and Kareena Kapoor for 3 Idiots.

The Best Director trophy went to Rajkumar Hirani for 3 Idiots, while he, along with Abhijat Joshi and Vidhu Vinod Chopra, bagged the Best Story award for the same film.

3 Idiots, a coming-of-age comedy about three students at a top engineering college, had been nominated in 12 of the 13 main categories in the 11th IIFA awards.

It has already won eight of the 12 technical awards announced last month, including Best Screenplay and Best Cinematography.

Sharman Joshi won the Best Supporting Actor award for his role in 3 Idiots, while Divya Dutta received the Best Supporting Actress award for her performance in Delhi 6.

3 idiots won another award with Boman Irani clinching the statuette for his negative role in the film.

Sanjay Dutt laughed all the way to bag the award for Best Performance in a Comic Role in All the Best.

Composer Pritam pipped maestro A R Rahman to win the Best Music Director award for Love Aaj Kal while Shaan was adjudged the Best Singer (Male) for Behti hawa sa tha woh (3 Idiots).

Kavita Seth won the Best Singer (Female) for Iktara from Wake Up, Sid!. Swanand Kirkire won the Best Lyrics award for 3 Idiots.

Sri Lankan beauty Jacqueline Fernandez jointly won the Best Female Debutante of the year along with Mahie Gill for their role in Aladin and Dev D, respectively.

Omi Vaidya aka Chatur Ramalingam of 3 Idiots shared the Best Male Debutante honour with Jackky Bhagnani for Kal Kissne Dekha.

Veteran filmmaker J Om Prakash, maternal grandfather of Hrithik Roshan, and yesteryear's screen siren Zeenat Aman were felicitated with the Lifetime Achievement award.

The awards were given away at a glitzy ceremony in the Sri Lankan capital, which was overshadowed by protests from minority Tamils and was boycotted by the South Indian stars like Kamal Haasan and director Mani Ratnam.

Many top Bollywood stars also gave it a miss, including brand ambassador Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan.

The technical awards, given away in May, had 3 Idiots upholding its position above all other films, bagging awards for Dialogue, Background Score, Editing, Best Sound Recording, Best Song Recording, Sound Re-recording as well.

The dance moves in Imtiaz Ali's Love Aaj Kal won Bosco Caesar the Best Choreography Award, while the Best Costume Designing went to Anahita Shroff and Dolly Ahluwalia for the same movie.

Sabu Cyril got the Best Art Direction and Charles Darby (Eyecube Labs) won Best Special Effects (Visual) for Aladin.

Sham Kaushal was favoured with the Best Action award for Vishal Bhardwaj's Kaminey and the Best Makeup Award went to international make-up artists Christien Tinsley and Dominie Till for Paa.

The award ceremony was a glamorous affair with actor Salman Khan making a grand entry on stage with a host of other Bollywood celebs including his co-stars like Zarine Khan, Govinda and Anil Kapoor.

They danced to the beats of Khan's superhit numbers from films like Veer, Partner and No Entry and his upcoming movie Dabangg.