The prestigious Indian Film Festival of Melbourne drew to a close amidst many celebrations. The festival that celebrates the of cinema from India and the subcontinent kicked off with a powerful performance by Shalmali Kholgade, Suzzane D’mello along with Pakistani singer Sara Haider for the noble cause of Woman Empowerment.

The five day gala event concluded with the award ceremony. The winners of the 2016 edition of the festival are as follows –

The very inspiring and empowering movie Parched won the best Indie Film giving the Parched team another reason to celebrate the success of this movie.

The family entertainer Kapoor and Sons directed by Shakun Batra won the award for the best Movie. Rishi Kapoor and Fawad Khan who were part of the movie were present at the festival.

Fawad Khan, who is currently making news for his impressive work in Bollywood ,won the diversity award for his contribution to Indian and Pakistani Cinema.

Vetern Bollywood actor Rishi Kapoor was recognized with the IFFM Excellence in Cinema Award.

Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Sonam Kapoor won the Best Actor and Actress award, for their enthralling films Raman Raghav 2.0 and Neerja respectively. Both the movies were screened at the honorable event.

Attendees at the award evening included Malaika Arora Khan, Sonam Kapoor, Fawad Khan, Anurag Kashyap, Rishi Kapoor along with his wife Neetu Kapoor, Rituparna Sengupta etc.

Chief Guest Rishi Kapoor also hoisted the Indian national flag at the iconic Federation Square in Melbourne as a part of the celebrations of the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne 2016.