Fahadh Faasil nominated for best actor award at the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne

The Indian Film Festival of Melbourne (IFFM) is all set to begin from August 10 and will go on till August 22. IFFM is one of the most prestigious film festivals that is aimed at honouring the best talents from Indian cinema. Simi Garewal, Nikkhil Advani, Sue Maslin, Jill Bilcock, Andrew Anastaisos and Geoffrey Wright are the Jury for this year. The jury members will be choosing winners across six categories – Best Film, Best Indie Film, Best Actor, Best Director, Best Supporting Role and Best Director.

Out of the films competing at the festival, Bollywood films form the majority. Along with B-Town’s Padman, Hichki, Padmaavat, Sanju, Secret Superstar and Raazi, Telugu films Mahanati and Rangasthalam are also competing for best film. In the best actor category, nominations are – Ranbir Kapoor (Sanju), Varun Dhawan (October),
Fahadh Faasil (Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyum), Ranveer Singh (Padmaavat), Akshay Kumar (Padman), Manoj Bajpayee (In The Shadows), Soumitra Chaterjee (Mayurakshi) and Shahid Kapoor (Padmaavat).

Interestingly, Fahadh Faasil is the only South Indian male actor to be nominated at IFFM. His performance in Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyum earned him numerous accolades including the National award for best supporting actor. The Dileesh Pothan directorial also won the National award for best Malayalam film.

In the female best actor category at IFFM, Keerthy Suresh (Mahanati) is up against Rani Mukerji (Hichki), Vidya Balan (Tumhari Sulu), Deepika Padukone (Padmaavat), Alia Bhatt (Raazi), Bhanita Das (Village Rockstars), Tillotama Shome (Sir) and Zaira Wasim (Secret Superstar). Samantha has also been nominated in the best supporting actor category for her performance in Mahanati.

In the best director category, nominations are – Rajkumar Hirani (Sanju), Shoojit Sircar (October), R. Balki for (Padman), Siddharth P Malhotra for (Hichki), Advait Chandan for (Secret Superstar), Dipesh Jain (In the Shadows), Ere Gowda for (Balekempa), Suresh Triveni (Tumhari Sulu), Sanjay Leela Bhansali (Padmaavat), Rima Das (Village Rockstars), Meghna Gulzar (Raazi), Tabrez Noorani (Love Sonia) and Rohena Gera (Sir).