BANGKOK:

Chak De! India, which won critical acclaim and mass popularity, also swept the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) 2008 awards on the night of June 8 as it was named the best film while superstar Shah Rukh Khan and Shimit Amin lifted the best actor and best director trophies respectively for the film. Kareena Kapoor was named the best acress for Jab We Met.

Shah Rukh was not present at the gala and producer Yash Copra accepted the award on his behalf. The film also won awards for story and screenplay.

The best male and female style icons were Abhishek Bachchan and Katrina Kaif, respectively. Music composer AR Rahman was honoured for ‘outstanding achievement by an Indian in international cinema’.

While veteran filmmaker Shyam Benegal and Mumtaz, a popular star of the yesteryears, won the special honours for lifetime achievement, actor Akshay Kumar bagged a special award from the host country, Thailand.

The award for the best performance in a negative role went to Viveik Oberoi for Shootout at Lokhandwala, while the one for the best performance in a comic role went to Govinda for Partner.

Neil Nitin Mukesh was named ‘the fresh face of the year’.

Karan Johar, Urmila Matondkar, Boman Irani and Ritesh Deshmukh compered the award ceremony. It was the team of Boman and Ritesh that won the hearts of the audience with their easy repartee.

Rahman was also named the best music director for his score in Guru. Shreya Ghoshal won the honours for the best playback singer (female) for Barso re from Guru, which film also bagged awards for the best background score (Rahman) and best song recording (H Sridhar).

The best playback singer (male) award was bagged by Shaan for Jab se tere naina from Saawariya. Veteran Javed Akhtar was named the best lyricist for Om Shanti Om.

The award for best screenplay was won jointly by Anurag Basu (Life in a Metro) and Jaideep Sahni (Chak De! India). Sahni also won the award for best story for the same film. Chak De! India also took home the trophy for best cinematography. Imtiyaz Ali was named the best dialogue writer for Jab We Met. — HNS