IIFA 2025: Laapataa Ladies, Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 lead in popular category nominations

Light-hearted satire Laapataa Ladies and horror comedies Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 and Stree 2 – Sarkate Ka Aatank have emerged as the top nominees in popular categories at the International Indian Film Academy Awards 2024, the organisers announced on Sunday.
Kiran Rao’s Laapataa Ladies leads the pack with nine nominations, while Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 directed by Anees Bazmee and Amar Kaushik’s Stree 2 – Sarkate Ka Aatank follow close with seven and six nods, respectively.
The silver jubilee edition of the IIFA Awards, set to be held in Jaipur between March 8 and 9, will honour cinematic excellence across 10 categories of Best Picture, Best Direction, Best Performance in a Leading Role (Female and Male), Best Performance in a Supporting Role (Female and Male), Best Performance in a Negative Role, Music Direction, and Playback Singer (Male and Female).
The nominees in the Best Picture are Laapataa Ladies, Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3, Stree 2 – Sarkate Ka Aatank, Kill, Article 370, and Shaitaan.
In the Best Direction category, the race is among Rao (Laapataa Ladies), Nikhil Nagesh Bhat (Kill), Kaushik (Stree 2 – Sarkate Ka Aatank), Siddharth Anand (Fighter), Bazmee (Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3), and Aditya Suhas Jhambale (Article 370).
Nitanshi Goel (Laapataa Ladies), Alia Bhatt (Jigra), Yami Gautam (Article 370), Katrina Kaif (Merry Christmas), and Shraddha Kapoor (Stree 2 – Sarkate Ka Aatank) will contend for the award of Best Performance in a Leading Role (Female).
Sparsh Shrivastava (Laapataa Ladies), Rajkummar Rao (Stree 2 – Sarkate Ka Aatank), Kartik Aaryan (Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3), Abhishek A Bachchan (I Want To Talk), and Ajay Devgn (Shaitaan) are nominated in the Best Performance in a Leading Role (Male) category.
Chhaya Kadam (Laapataa Ladies), Vidya Balan (Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3), Janki Bodiwala and Jyotika (both for Shaitaan), and Priyamani (Article 370) are vying for the award for Best Performance in a Supporting Role (Female).
Ravi Kishan (Laapataa Ladies), Abhishek Banerjee (Stree 2 – Sarkate Ka Aatank), Fardeen Khan (Khel Khel Mein), Rajpal Yadav (Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3), and Manoj Pahwa (Jigra) have secured nominations in Best Performance in a Supporting Role (Male) segment.
Other nominees in the Best Music Direction category are: Ram Sampath (Laapataa Ladies) and AR Rahman (Maidaan). (PTI)