Dubai :

Black, a dark exploration of the life of a deaf-blind woman, swept the prizes at Bollywood’s top film festival hosted this year in Dubai.

Indian movie stars, led by Black male lead and Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan, descended on Dubai for the three-day International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) festival which ended late on June 16 with the awards gala.

Bachchan won the best actor award, while his co-star in Black Rani Mukerji received the best actress. The movie’s director Sanjay Leela Bhansali was voted best director, while his sister Bela Sehgal was chosen best editor. The trophy for best supporting role for a female was given to Ayesha Kapoor, also from Black, which grabbed the best picture award.

Other winners included Abhishek Bachchan for best supporting role in Sarkar, Shiney Ahuja for best male newcomer for Hazaron Khwahishain Aisi, and Vidya Balan as best female debutant for Parineeta.

The best male playback singer award was given to Himesh Reshammiya for Ashiq Banaya Aapne, while the equivalent female award went to Alisha Chinoy for her song Karja Re in Bunty Aur Babli. Best story award went to Nagesh Kukunoor for his film Iqbal, while best comic role went to Javed Jaffrey in Salaam Namaste.

Yesteryear actress Asha Parekh and filmmaker OP Dutta were honoured with Lifetime Achievement Awards. Hollywood producer Ashok Amritraj was specially honoured for his contribution in promoting Indian cinema overseas.

The IIFA’s awards festival, which has become India’s equivalent of the Oscars, brought to Dubai a number of colourful Indian shows to entertain the thousands of fans who could afford to pay the entry fees.