Deepika Padukone, Akshay Kumar, Sushmita Sen, Bobby Deol win big at Dadasaheb Phalke International Film Festival Awards

The Dadasaheb Phalke International Film Festival Awards 2021 were held in Mumbai on 20 February. The awards seek to continue the legacy of the father of Indian cinema, Dadasaheb Phalke, by celebration talent in the domains of film, television, music and OTT shows. The award ceremony was the first to be held in a physical format in some time and several celebrities attended the event. 

The awards — not to be confused with India's highest award in cinema, the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, which is presented annually by the government of India —  were started by Anil Mishra.

The Best Actor (Female) Award was presented to Deepika Padukone for Meghna Gulzar’s Chhapaak (2020), while Akshay Kumar won the Best Actor (Male) Award for Raghava Lawrence‘s Laxmii (2020). The awards were presented in several categories for acting and Sushant Singh Rajput, who passed away last year, was presented with the critic’s Best Actor (Male) Award posthumously for his outstanding contribution to Hindi cinema. 

Vikrant Massey won the award for Best Actor in a supporting role for his performance in Chappaak, while Radhika Madan won the Best Actress in a Supporting Role award for her work in Homi Adajania’s Angrezi Medium (2020). Kay Kay Menon was handed over the award for the Most Versatile Actor and Kiara Advani won the Critics’ Choice Best Actor (Female) Award for her performance in the Netflix film Guilty (2020) directed by Ruchi Narain. Dharma Productions congratulated Advani on her win on Twitter on Monday.

Among the television awards, Surbhi Chandna and Dheeraj Dhoopar won the acting awards while Dheeraj’s Kundali Bhagya was declared the Best Television Show. Hansal Mehta’s Scam 1992, which is based on the life of stockbroker Harshad Mehta, won the Best Series Award while the acting awards were presented to Sushmita Sen and Bobby Deol for the Disney+ Hotstar show Aarya and Prakash Jha’s Aashram on MX Player respectively. Deol shared a picture with his mother on Twitter.

Other winners included Anurag Basu, who won the Best Director Award for Ludo (2020), Dabboo Ratnani for Photographer of the Year, Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior for Best Film and Chetan Bhagat for Outstanding Contribution to Literature in Indian Cinema.