Ranveer, Deepika win top honours at IIFA

Indian historical epic “Bajirao Mastani” swept the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) Awards held in Madrid, Spain, taking home awards for Best Director, Best Supporting Actress and Best Male Actor for leading man Ranveer Singh.

The movie, which stars Ranveer as 18th century Maratha warrior Bajirao, picked up nine other technical awards at the ceremony, including for choreography and best cinematography.

“I am quite overwhelmed by all of this,” director Sanjay Leela Bhansali said as he picked up his prize. “I don't want to thank anyone for this film. I think thank you is just not enough for this film,” he added to applause from the 5,000-strong crowd gathered at Madrid's IFEMA Congress Centre.

Ranveer in turn said that he learned “how to be single-minded and uncompromising in the pursuit of excellence” by working with Bhansali for the film.

The Best Film award went to “Bajrangi Bhaijaan”, starring Salman Khan. The film also won Best Story.

Ranvir's beau and one of the leading ladies of Bollywood, Deepika Padukone picked up Best Actress for “Piku”, while her closest rival for Bollywood's top female actor spot, Priyanka Chopra, was named Woman of the Year, along with Best Supporting for “DIl Dhadakne Do”. Anil Kapoor also picked up the Best Supporting Actor for the same film.

The song “Moh Moh Ke Dhaage” won both its singers – Monali Thakur and Papon – Best Playback singers. The film's heroine Bhumi Pednekar also picked up Best Female Debutante. Amaal Mallik, Meet Bros Anjjan, Ankit Tiwari were awarded Best Music Directors, for “Roy”.

Sridevi, the iconic actress from the 80s and 90s, was honoured with Lifetime Achievement Award.

Co-hosts Farhan Akhtar and Shahid Kapoor arrived on the stage for the start of ceremony - which got underway two hours behind schedule - riding donkeys. They were followed by young men wearing football jerseys who did tricks with a ball with their heads and a mariachi band in white suits. In keeping with a Spanish theme, Hrithik Roshan performed the flamenco-themed song “Senorita” from his 2011 film “Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara”. The Madrid city hall was illuminated with the colours of the Indian flag over the weekend in honour of the awards.

The award show, which celebrates Bollywood films, takes place in a different city outside of India every year in the hope of luring new audiences to the genre.