Alia Bhatt-starrer “Darlings”, Vasan Bala’s “Monica O My Darling” Mani Ratnam’s two-part epic “Ponniyin Selvan” and Kannada blockbuster “Kantara” have emerged as the top nominees for the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne (IFFM) Awards 2023, the organisers said Friday.
The 14th edition of IFFM will take place from August 11 to 20. The awards gala will be held on the opening day at the Australian city’s iconic Hamer Hall.
The four films are among the ten contenders for the best film honour. The rest of the nominees include “Bhediya”, “Brahmastra”, “Jogi”, “Pathaan” and “Sita Ramam”.
Bala and Ratnam are set to fight it out for the best director trophy along with Anant Mahadevan (“The Storyteller”), Anurag Kashyap (“Kennedy”), Ashish Avinash Bende (“Autobio-Pamphlet”), Devashish Makhija (“Joram”), Don Palathara (“Family”), Kanu Behl (“Agra”), Nandita Das (“Zwigato”), Prthivi Konanur (“Hadinelentu”), Rima Das (“Tora’s Husband”) and Siddharth Anand (“Pathaan”).
Manoj Bajpayee has received two nods in the best actor category for his performances in “Joram” and “Gulmohar”.
In the web series segment, Netflix’s “Trial By Fire”, “Delhi Crime” and Prime Video show “Jubilee” lead the nominations list.
The three shows will compete for the best series honour alongside “Dahaad”, “Farzi”, “SHE”, “Suzhal: The Vortex” and “The Broken News”.
The nominees for best documentary include “Against The Tide”, “Dharti Latar Re Horo”, “Fatima”, “Kucheye Khoshbakht”, “To Kill A Tiger” and “While We Watched”.