Baahubali leads IIFA Utsavam nominations

The International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) has announced the nominations for the first ‘IIFA Utsavam’ awards on Wednesday.

Leading the nominations is ‘Baahubali’ directed by SS Rajamouli. The film has been nominated across a whopping 14 categories including Best Picture-Shobu Yarlagadda/Arka Media, Direction-SS Rajamouli, Leading Role Female-Tamannaah, Leading Role Male-Prabhas, Lyrics-K Shiva Dutta, Music Direction-MM Keeravani, Negative Role-Rana Daggubati, Supporting Role Female-Ramya Krishna and Supporting Role Male-Satyaraj. The film has scored triple nominations for Playback Singer Female-Satya Yamini, Geetha Madhuri and Damini and double nominations for Playback Singer Male-Revanth and Deepu.

Second in the nominations briage is Srimanthudu, which has been nominated in 11 categories that include Best Picture-Y Ravi Shankar/G Mahesh Babu Entertainment, Role-Vennela Kishore, Direction-Koratala Siva, Leading Role Female-Shruti Haasan, Leading Role Male-Mahesh Babu, Lyrics-Ramajogayya Sastry, Music Direction-Devisri Prasad, Negative Role-Sampath, Playback Singer Male-Sastry Sagar, Supporting Role Female-Thulasi and Supporting Role Male-Jagapati Babu.

Global Voting for IIFA Utsavam began on November 18 and will continue till November 27 midnight. The event promises to be a magical evening witnessed by some of the most prolific names in the South Indian Film Industry.

An initiative by Wizcraft International Entertainment, IIFA Utsavam aims to recognise and commend the best across the South Indian film industry.

Speaking on the occasion, Andre Timmins, Director Wizcraft International Entertainment Pvt Ltd said, “This is the start of a truly amazing journey and we are firmly committed to honouring the best talent in the South film industry. The calibre of our nominees speaks volumes and December will see a fantastic beginning with the first edition of IIFA Utsavam.”

Collaborating with IIFA for the event, the National Programming Head of Sun TV Network SJ Clement said, “Sun TV Network will be the official broadcast partner of the IIFA Utsavam event and shall telecast the Red Carpet and Nomination episodes on its flagship channels Sun TV, Gemini TV, Udaya TV and Surya TV on January 3. The finale of the event will be the awards ceremony with star-studded performances, which will be telecast on Jan 10, 2016.”