THE action drama Animal and the family drama Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani have emerged as the leading contenders at the 2024 International Indian Film Academy Awards, the organisers announced on Monday (19).
Animal, featuring Ranbir Kapoor and Rashmika Mandanna, tops the list with 11 nominations, while Rocky Aur Rani..., starring Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt, follows closely with 10 nominations.
IIFA unveiled the full list of nominations in its 2024 Popular Category, spanning 10 segments, including best picture, direction, and leading role performances.
Competing for best picture are the social dramas 12th Fail and Satyaprem Ki Katha, alongside Animal, Rocky Aur Rani..., the action thriller Jawan, and Sam Bahadur, which chronicles the life of India's first field marshal, Sam Manekshaw.
In the direction category, the race is among Vidhu Vinod Chopra for 12th Fail, Sandeep Reddy Vanga for Animal, Karan Johar for Rocky Aur Rani..., Atlee for Jawan, Siddharth Anand for Pathaan and Amit Rai for OMG 2.
Bhatt (Rocky Aur Rani...), Deepika Padukone (Pathaan), Rani Mukerji (Mrs. Chatterjee vs Norway), Kiara Advani (Satyaprem Ki Katha) and Taapsee Pannu (Dunki) will contend for the award of performance in a leading role (female).
In the performance in a leading role (male) category, the nominees are Vikrant Massey (12th Fail), Ranbir Kapoor (Animal), Ranveer Singh (Rocky Aur Rani...), Shah Rukh Khan (Jawan), Vicky Kaushal (Sam Bahadur) and Sunny Deol (Gadar 2).
In the performance in a supporting role (female) category, Triptii Dimri, who garnered massive fan following post her appearance in Animal, is in the competition with Geeta Aggarwal Sharma (12th Fail), Sanya Malhotra (Sam Bahadur) and Jaya Bachchan and Shabana Azmi (Rocky Aur Rani...).
Rocky Aur Rani... co-stars Dharmendra and Tota Roy Chowdhury have each secured a nomination in the performance in a supporting role (male) segment alongside Gajraj Rao of Satyaprem Ki Katha, Anil Kapoor of Animal and Jaideep Ahlawat of An Action Hero.
The nominees in the performance in the negative role are: Bobby Deol (Animal), John Abraham (Pathaan), Vijay Sethupathi (Jawan), Emraan Hashmi (Tiger 3) and Yami Gautam (OMG 2).
Composer Pritam has received two nominations in music direction for his work on Animal and Rocky Aur Rani...
Vishal Mishra, Manan Bhardwaj, Shreyas Puranik, Jaani, Bhupinder Babbal, Ashim Kemson, and Harshavardhan Rameshwar have also been nominated for Animal, and so have Vishal–Shekhar for Pathaan, Anirudh Ravichander for Jawan, Sachin–Jigar for Zara Hatke Zara Bachke and Shantanu Moitra for 12th Fail.
Singer Arijit Singh too has earned a twin nomination for Animal and Pathaan. Vishal Mishra and Bhupinder Babbal also have a nod each for Animal in the playback singer (male) category, as does Diljit Dosanjh for Dunki.
Shreya Ghoshal and Shilpa Rao have got double nominations in the playback singer (female) category. While Ghoshal has been nominated for Animal and Rocky Aur Rani..., Rao has received the nod for Pathaan and Jawan. Deepthi Suresh is also competing in the segment for Jawan. (PTI)
Alia Bhatt at the Red Sea Film Festival where she spoke about the scale of Alpha Getty Images 
