The Chetak Screen Awards 2026 makes a grand return tonight. This time, it will blend cinematic legacy with a digital-age flourish as it celebrates the best of Hindi cinema across both theatres and OTT. Leading the nominations race is Aditya Dhar’s espionage thriller Dhurandhar with a commanding 24 nominations, followed by Mohit Suri’s romantic musical Saiyaara with 17 and Neeraj Ghaywan’s Homebound securing 15.
The winners have been selected by the Screen Academy, an independent collective of over 50 filmmakers and cultural voices, adding weight and credibility to the honours.
Mumbai will play host to this glittering evening, with Alia Bhatt anchoring the show alongside Sunil Grover, Zakir Khan and Saurabh Dwivedi.
Expect a red carpet brimming with Bollywood’s biggest names, all converging to celebrate storytelling in its many forms. In a nod to changing viewing habits, the ceremony will also stream live from 8 pm on YouTube, SonyLIV and Sony Entertainment Television.
Best Film and Best Director Awards
Anant Goenka and Devendra Fadnavis are on the stage to present the award for Best Director. The award went to Aditya Dhar for Dhurandhar. The award for Best Film went to Homebound.
Time for the Best Actor award
Ranveer Singh wins the Bet Actor Male for film Dhurandhar. The Best Actor Female award goes to Yami Gautam Dhar for film Haq.
Remembering Dharamendra...
Remembering the He-Man of Hindi films. Late Dharamendra wins Lifetime Achievement Award. Javed Akhtar and Ramesh Sippy are on the stage to honour the memory of Dharamendra. They are joined by Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis. The late actor's son Bobby Deol receives the award for his father.
Best Film for Gender Sensitivity award goes to 2025 film 'Haq'.
Karan Tejpal wins Best Director OTT Film award
Shoojit Sircar is on the stage to present the award for Best Director OTT Film. The award goes to Karan Tejpal for the film Stolen. This is the third award for the film.
The award for Best Actor OTT Film (Male) goes to Abhishek Banerjee for the film 'Stolen'. He confesses on stage that his "sources" told him that he is not winning this award but that proved not right.
The award for Best Actor OTT Film (Female) goes to Sanya Malhotra for the film Mrs.
'Stolen' wins Best Script OTT film award
Best Script OTT film award goes to Karan Tejpal, Gaurav Dhingra and Swapnil Salkar for 'Stolen'. Mukesh Chhabra and Anoop Soni presented the award.
Divya Dutta and Ramesh Torani are on the stage to present the award for Best Song. And it goes to Tanishq Bagchi, Faheem Abdullah and Arslan Nizami for Saiyaara title track.
Next up - Best Lyrics and Best Playback Singer awards
Gulzar wins award for Best Lyrics for his song "Ul Jalool Ishq" from the 2025 film Gustaakh Ishq. The Best Playback Singer (Male) award went to Faheem Abdullah for Saiyaara title track. The Best Playback Singer (Female) award went to Shreya Ghoshal for Saiyaara title track.
Breakthrough Debut Director award goes to Shazia Iqbal for Dhadak 2. The Breakthrough New Actor Male award was won by Ahaan Pandey for Saiyaara and Breakthrough New Actor Female award went to Aneet Padda for Saiyaara.
Dhurandhar rules the night
Best Dialouge award goes to Aditya Dhar's film Dhurandhar. The team has won 11 awards so far tonight.
Best Film Writing award goes to...
In its first, Homebound won the award for Best Film Writing.
Best Costume award shared between Chhaava & Dhurandhar
At the Chetak Screen Awards 2026, Sheetal Iqbal Sharma and Smriti Chauhan won the Best Costume honours for their standout work in Chhaava and Dhurandhar, respectively.
Dhurandhar bags its 8th award of the evening
Winning its 8th award of the evening, Dhurandhar bagged Best Action trophy.
Production Design award goes to Dhurandhar
The award for best Production Design goes to Dhurandhar. This is the 5th award of the evening for the blockbuster.
Best Editing award goes to...
Shivkumar V Panicker won the Chetak Screen Award for Best Editing for his sharp, seamless work in Dhurandhar. The award was presented by director Nagesh Kukunoor and editor Pooja Ladha Surti.
Dhurandhar rules Screen Award, wins third award of the evening
Dhurandhar wins awards for Best Cinematography and Visual Effects. This is the third award of the evening for the blockbuster film.
Best Sound Design award goes to
Bishwadeep Chaterjee wins Best Sound Design award for Dhurandhar.
Alia Bhatt’s opening monologue gets surprise twist with ‘Aamir Khan’
Alia Bhatt’s opening monologue took a playful turn when she was “interrupted” by none other than Aamir Khan—well, the Sunil Grover version of him. As Alia took on hosting duties for the first time, Grover, in his Aamir avatar, stepped in as her cheeky guide for the evening. Setting the tone, Alia reminded the audience that “the magic we see on screen is incomplete without the magicians behind it,” blending humour with a heartfelt nod to the people off camera.
Chetak Screen Awards 2026 live: The Chetak Screen Awards 2026 are officially underway, with Bollywood star Alia Bhatt lighting up the stage as host. The evening opened on a high note with a vibrant dance medley set to a remix of the iconic “Parde Mein Rehne Do,” setting the tone for a glittering night ahead. Midway through the performance, Alia made a stylish entry, seamlessly taking over the stage and setting the celebrations in motion.
Dazzling Red Carpet
The red carpet at the Chetak Screen Awards 2026 is already glittering with star power. Acclaimed actor Rasika Dugal and celebrated filmmaker Rajkumar Hirani—also a member of the prestigious Screen Academy—have made their arrival, adding to the evening’s gravitas. Actor Shreya Chaudhry, nominated for Best Actor (Female) – OTT Film for The Mehta Boys, also turned heads as she stepped onto the red carpet.
Who are the Screen Academy members - Full list
Chetak Screen Awards 2026 live: Here’s a complete list of jury
1. Abhishek Chaubey – Director & Screenwriter
2. Amit Ray- Production Designer
3. Amritpal Singh Bindra – Film producer, Director & Writer
4. Anand Mahindra – Patron of the arts, Chairman of the Mahindra Group
5. Anil Mehta – Cinematographer
6. Atul Mongia – Casting Director, Acting Coach
7. Bishwadeep Chatterjee – Sound Designer
8. Deepa Bhatia – Film editor, writer
9. Deepa Mehta – Director & Writer
10. Feroz Abbas Khan – Director & Screenwriter
11. Gaurav Gandhi—Head of Amazon Prime Video, APAC.
12. Goutam Ghose – Director, Cinematographer
13. Guneet Monga Kapoor – Film Producer
14. Jaideep Sahni – Screenwriter & lyricist
15. John Abraham – Actor -Producer
16. Kabir Khan – Director
17. Karan Johar – Director, Producer, Talk Show Host
18. Kausar Munir – Lyricist & Screenwriter
19. Manish Malhotra — Fashion Designer & Producer
20. Manohar Verma – Action Director
21. Maxima Basu –Costume and fashion Designer
22. Mukesh Chhabra – Casting Director
23. Nagesh Kukunoor – Director & Screenwriter
24. Namit Malhotra – Film Producer, Global CEO of DNEG
25. Namrata Rao – Director and Producer
26. Niharika Bhasin – Costume Designer
27. Payal Kapadia – Director
28. Pooja Ladha Surti – Film Editor & Writer
29. Pritam Chakraborty – Music Director and Composer
30. Prosenjit Chatterjee – Actor & Producer
31. R. S. Prasanna – Director
32. Rahul Dholakia – Director, Producer & Screenwriter
33. Rajiv Menon – Cinematographer & Director
34. Rajkumar Hirani – Film editor, Screenwriter & Director
35. Ram Madhvani – Director
36. Ramesh Taurani – Film & Music Producer
37. Ravi Chandran – Cinematographer
38. Resul Pookutty – Sound Designer & Producer
39. Rima Das – Writer, Director & Editor
40. Ronnie Screwvala -Film Producer & Entrepreneur
41. Sabu Cyril – Production Designer
42. Sameer Nair – Managing Director, Applause Entertainment
43. Shiamak Davar -Choreographer
44. Shoojit Sircar – Director & Film Producer
45. Siddharth Roy Kapur – Film Producer
46. Sriram Raghavan – Director and Screenwriter
47. Subhash Ghai – Director, Producer & Educationist
48. Subrata Chakraborty – Production Designer
49. Sujoy Ghosh – Screenwriter & Director
50. Swapnil Sonawane – Cinematographer & producer
51. Tanuj Garg – Film Producer
52. Vidya Balan – Actor
53. Vinay Kumar – Actor, Director & Theatre Researcher
How winners were chosen: Inside Chetak Awards' jury process
Chetak Screen Awards 2026 Live: The winners have been selected by the SCREEN Academy — an independent, not-for-profit collective of over 50 eminent filmmakers, artistes and cultural voices. To ensure fairness and consistency, the evaluation framework was designed by Dr Priya Jaikumar of the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts.
Neeraj Ghaywan in Best Director race as Homebound bags 15 nods
Chetak Screen Awards 2026 LIVE: Neeraj Ghaywan’s Homebound — which made it to the shortlist of 15 films for the 98th Academy Awards in the Best International Feature Film category — has secured 15 nominations at the Chetak Screen Awards 2026, including Best Film.
The film’s performances have drawn significant recognition, with Vishal Jethwa and Ishaan Khatter both competing for Best Actor (Male), while Shalini Vatsa is nominated for Best Supporting Actor (Female). Ghaywan himself is also in contention for Best Director.
Chetak Screen Awards 2026 LIVE: Close on the heels of Aditya Dhar’s Dhurandhar, which leads with 24 nominations, is Mohit Suri’s romantic musical Saiyaara, securing an impressive 17 nods at the Chetak Screen Awards 2026.
The film proved to be a turning point for Hindi cinema in 2025, pulling audiences back to theatres and winning praise across the board.
Saiyaara is in the race for top honours including Best Film and Best Director (Mohit Suri), while its fresh faces Aneet Padda and Ahaan Panday have been nominated in the Breakthrough New Actor categories. The film also features in key technical segments such as Best Editing (Devendra Murdeshwar, Rohit Makwana) and Best Background Score (John Stewart Eduri).
Adding to its musical sweep, Saiyaara has bagged three nominations each in Best Song, Best Playback Singer (Female), and Best Playback Singer (Male).
Chetak Screen Awards 2026 LIVE: Aditya Dhar’s espionage thriller Dhurandhar — a box office juggernaut and one of the most talked-about Indian films in recent times — has emerged as the frontrunner at the Chetak Screen Awards 2026 with a sweeping 24 nominations, including Best Film.
Ranveer Singh is in contention for Best Actor (Male), while Dhar himself is nominated for Best Director. The film’s strong ensemble also shines, with Akshaye Khanna and Rakesh Bedi both vying for Best Supporting Actor (Male).
Beyond performances, Dhurandhar has made its presence felt across key technical categories as well, earning nominations for Best Action, Background Score, Choreography, Cinematography and Dialogue, among others.
Why should you watch Chetak Screen Awards?
Chetak Screen Awards 2026 LIVE: Do we really need another award show while so many already exist? Fair enough. But that’s exactly the question we asked ourselves before bringing back the Chetak Screen Awards and the answer shaped everything that followed.
This wasn’t meant to be just another trophy parade. Staying true to its legacy, The Indian Express Group set out to raise the bar. Every nominee — and ultimately every winner — across 31 categories has been chosen by the Screen Academy, an independent, not-for-profit body of 53 respected filmmakers, artistes and cultural voices, through a meticulous and transparent process.
To ensure rigour, Dr Priya Jaikumar of the University of Southern California designed a detailed evaluation framework. Academy members assessed films on creativity, technical finesse, innovation and audience connect, while performances were judged on that elusive but essential ingredient: authenticity.
The result is an awards platform that doesn’t just celebrate cinema, it scrutinises it with care. In a world full of applause, the Chetak Screen Awards aim to make every clap count.
When and where to watch Chetak Screen Awards 2026 LIVE?
Chetak Screen Awards 2026 LIVE: The countdown has entered its final act—just two hours to go for the Chetak Screen Awards 2026! Excitement? That’s almost an understatement. The buzz is already in full swing as celebrities begin to arrive, turning Mumbai into a glittering runway ahead of the 8 pm kickoff.
If you’re not on the red carpet, don’t worry—the show is coming to you. Catch all the glamour, wins and unforgettable moments live on YouTube and SonyLIV, or tune in to Sony Entertainment Television from 8 pm onwards.