Filmfare Awards 2017: Udta Punjab dominates nominations, Ae Dil Hai Mushkil and Sultan follow closely

With the recently aired Stardust Awards in India and the Golden Globe Awards on the other side , the award season is at its peak.

Back home, the Hindi film industry is gearing up for the grandest night of em all - the 62nd Filmfare Awards.

It was earlier announced that Shah Rukh Khan will host the award show and that a new category of Best Short Film will be introduced this year. Now, Filmfare has announced the nomination lists for 10 of its multiple categories. The three Khans - Salman, Shah Rukh and Aamir are all set to compete for the Best Actor in a Leading Role (Male) Filmfare Award for the first time in 19 years.

The nominations are almost identical in the Best Film and Best Director categories - Nitesh Tiwari’s wrestling biopic Dangal, which is now the highest grossing Hindi film ever , Shakun Batra’s coming-of-age family drama Kapoor & Sons, Ram Madhvani’s thriller biopic Neerja, Aniruddha Roy Choudhary’s courtroom drama Pink, Ali Abbas Zafar’s sports drama Sultan and Abhishek Chaubey’s dark comedy Udta Punjab.

Speaking of Udta Punjab, the controversial film has made it to all the 10 categories barring the Best Playback Singer (Male). Shahid Kapoor, Diljit Dosanjh and Kareena Kapoor Khan have been nominated in the Best Actor (Male), Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Male) and Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Female) categories respectively. On the musical front, Udta Punjab has not only been nominated for the Best Music Album category but also Kanika Kapoor and Late Shiv Kumar Batalvi have been nominated for the songs Da Da Dasse and Ikk Kudi in the Best Playback Singer (Female) and Best Lyrics categories respectively.

Following closely is Sultan with seven nominations. While Salman has been nominated in the Best Actor category, it is the only film which has been nominated in all the music categories - Vishal-Shekhar for the album, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan and Neha Bhasin for their respective versions of Jag Ghoomeya and Irshad Kamil for penning down the words of the same song.

 Ae Dil Hai Mushkil ties with Sultan with nominations in seven categories. With Karan Johar nominated in the Best Director category and Ranbir Kapoor and Anushka Sharma nominated in the lead role categories respectively, Pritam finds himself nominated for the Best Music Album. Similarly, Jonita Gandhi has been nominated in the Best Playback Singer (Female) category for crooning The Breakup Song. The romantic drama dominates the Best Playback Singe (Male) list with three nominations - Arijit Singh for Channa Mereya and the title track and Amit Mishra for the energetic number Bulleya.

Similarly, Kapoor & Sons dominates the Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Male) category as Fawad Khan, Rajat Kapoor and Rishi Kapoor bag a nomination each. Also, another integral part of the ensemble, senior actor Rathna Pathak Shah has been nominated in the female category.

Also, the dark horse in the race is Rakesh Omprakash Mehra’s romantic epic Mirzya which bags three nominations - one in the Best Music Album to Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy and two to veteran lyricist Gulzar for penning down the title song and the much-appreciated Aaye Re Hitchki.

The full nomination lists of the 10 categories are as follows:

Best Film

Dangal Kapoor And Sons Neerja Pink Sultan Udta Punjab

Best Director

Abhishek Chaubey - Udta Punjab Ali Abbas Zafar – Sultan Karan Johar – Ae Dil Hai Mushkil Nitesh Tiwari – Dangal Ram Madhvani – Neerja Shakun Batra – Kapoor & Sons

Best Actor In A Leading Role (Male)

Aamir Khan – Dangal Amitabh Bachchan – Pink Ranbir Kapoor – Ae Dil Hai Mushkil Salman Khan – Sultan Shah Rukh Khan – Fan Shahid Kapoor – Udta Punjab Sushant Singh Rajput – MS Dhoni: The Untold Story

Best Actor In A Leading Role (Female)

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan – Sarbjit Alia Bhatt – Dear Zindagi Alia Bhatt – Udta Punjab Anushka Sharma – Ae Dil Hai Mushkil Sonam Kapoor – Neerja Vidya Balan – Kahaani 2

Best Actor In A Supporting Role (Male)

Diljit Dosanjh – Udta Punjab Fawad Khan – Kapoor & Sons Jim Sarbh – Neerja Rajat Kapoor – Kapoor & Sons Rajkummar Rao – Aligarh Rishi Kapoor – Kapoor & Sons

Best Actor In A Supporting Role (Female)

Kareena Kapoor Khan – Udta Punjab Kirti Kulhari – Pink Ratna Pathak Shah – Kapoor & Sons Richa Chadda – Sarbjit Shabana Azmi – Neerja

Best Music Album

Amaal Mallik, Badshah, Arko, Tanishk Bagchi, Benny Dayal and Nucleya – Kapoor & Sons Amit Trivedi – Udta Punjab Meet Bros, Amaal Mallik, Ankit Tiwari & Manj Musik – Baaghi Pritam – Ae Dil Hai Mushkil Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy – Mirzya Vishal-Shekhar – Sultan

Best Lyrics

Amitabh Bhattacharya – Channa mereya (Ae Dil Hai Mushkil) Gulzar – Aave re hitchki (Mirzya) Gulzar – Mirzya (Mirzya) Irshad Kamil – Jag ghoomeya (Sultan) Kausar Munir – Love you zindagi (Dear Zindagi) Late Shiv Kumar Batalvi – Ikk kudi (Udta Punjab)

Best Playback Singer (Male)

Amit Mishra – Bulleya (Ae Dil Hai Mushkil) Arijit Singh – Ae dil hai mushkil (Ae Dil Hai Mushkil) Arijit Singh – Channa mereya (Ae Dil Hai Mushkil) Atif Aslam – Tere sang yara (Rustom) Rahat Fateh Ali Khan – Jag ghoomeya (Sultan)

Best Playback Singer (Female)

Kanika Kapoor – Da da dasse (Udta Punjab) Jonita Gandhi – Break up song (Ae Dil Hai Mushkil) Neeti Mohan – Sau aasman (Baar Baar Dekho) Neha Bhasin – Jag ghoomeya (Sultan) Palak Mucchal – Kaun Tujhe (MS Dhoni: The Untold Story) Qurat-ul-Ain Balouch – Kari kari (Pink)