'Dabangg' bags six awards at IIFA

Toronto, June 26 (IANS) Salman Khan starrer "Dabangg", last year's biggest hit, bagged six awards, including best female debut for Sonakshi Sinha, at the glittering 12th International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) awards here Saturday night.

Ranvir Singh won the award for best debut male award for his role in "Band Baaja Baaraat".

Accepting the award from veteran actor couple Rishi Kapoor and Neetu Singh, the young actor said: "It is special to me as the award is presented by my idol. (But) it is just the beginning."

Presenting the award to Sonakshi Sinha, yesteryears' diva Hema Malini said: "I saw this girl and never thought she will become an actress.

A beaming Sonakshi said: "Toronto, itna pyar. Thanks for giving me the gift of IIFA. I will cherish it forever."

Mamta Sharma won the award for best female playback singer for her song "Munni Badnaam" in "Dabanng".

"I love you so much... Shah Rukh I love you much... Toronto I love you so much," said Mamta as Arshad Warsi handed her the award in the company of show co-hosts Boman Irani and Ritesh Deshmukh as well as Shah Rukh Khan.

The award for best male playback singer went to Rahat Fateh Ali Khan for "Tere Mast Mast Do Nain" from "Dabanng".

For best lyrics, the award went to Niranjan Iyengar for "Sajda" and "Noor-e-Khuda" in "My Name is Khan". The award was accepted by Karan Johar on his behalf.

For best music direction, the award went to Sajid-Wajid and Lalit Pandit for "Dabangg".

The award for best story went to Shibani Bathija for "My Name is Khan". It was presented by Brett Lee, Fardeen Khan and Sajid Nadiadwala.

The award for best screenplay went to Abhinav Kahsyap and Dileep Shukla for "Dabangg". Zeenat Aman, Prakash Mehra and Sant Singh Chatwal presented the award.

The award for best dialogue went to Vishal Bharadwaj for "Ishqiya".

Mallika Sherawat and Brian White - her co-star in a Hollywood movie - presented the award.

Sonu Sood received the award for best performance in a negative role for "Dabangg".

Dharmendra won an award for his half-century in Indian cinema, while the Outstanding Achievement Award went to Sharmila Tagore.

Handing Sharmila Tagore the award, Shabana Azmi said: "I am honoured to present this award to an actress for whom I have the highest regard - a path-breaker, achiever, a person who has been successful in every avatar she has chosen."

Sharmila Tagore said the award was "such a satisfying thing. It's fantastic. After Dharamji, it is a tough act to follow".

She recalled Dharmendra's large heartedness when he agreed to a change in schedule for the shooting of a film when she had to "rush to Calcutta for personal reasons as Tiger (her husband) was in the West Indies".

For the first time at the IIFA, Star Plus channel presented the Hottest Pair award to Anushka Sharma and Ranvir Singh for which 15 million votes were cast online.

"Anushka, you make me feel hot," said Ranvir accepting the award in her company.

The first Green IIFA Award by Panasonic went to actress Priyanka Chopra.

Ritiesh Deshmukh bagged the award for best performance in a comic role for the film "Housefull".

Irrfan Khan, whom Anil Kapoor lauded for his performances on the global stage, received the IIFA award for his international performances.

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