Abu Dhabi:IIFA 2022 took on an electrifying note on Thursday night with a star-spangled concert featuring some of the best musical talents of the country and a fashion parade curated by Falguni and Shane Peacock, rounded off by the announcement of the first series of nine technical awards.
The concert, hosted by Farah Khan with Aparshakti Khurana, saw a power-packed performance by Devi Sri Prasad, the man behind the music of 'Pushpa: The Rise' and 'KGF 2', followed by virtuoso performances by Guru Randhawa, Honey Singh, Tanishq Bagchi, Neha Kakkar, Asees Kaur, Ash King and Zahrah S. Khan. The fashion show saw Jacqueline Fernandez and Ananya Panday dazzle on the ramp, even as the host of the IIFA Awards night, Salman Khan, chilled out with Sara Ali Khan and Dhvani Bhanushali in the audience.
See pics:IIFA 2022: Sara Ali Khan walks the green carpet in strapless black gown
The much-anticipated high point of the evening, though, was the announcement of nine technical awards, three of which went to Shoojit Sircar's 'Sardar Udham' (for best cinematography, Avik Mukhopadhayay; editing, Chandrashekhar Prajapati; and VFX).
Aanand L. Rai's 'Atrangi Re' got two awards (best choreography for the 'Chaka Chak' number, Vijay Ganguly; and background score, A.R. Rahman.
Vishnuvardhan's Sidharth Malhotra-starrer 'Shershaah' got the award for best screenplay (Sandeep Shrivastava), Anubhav Sinha's 'Thappad' for best dialogue (Anubhav Sinha and Mrunmayee Lagoo), Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior', featuring Ajay Devgn and Saif Ali Khan, for sound design (Lochan Kanvinde), and Kabir Khan's World Cup cricket drama, '83', starring Ranveer Singh, for sound mixing (Ajay Kumar P.B. and Manik Batra).
Being held for the first time since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, the gala ceremony required mandatory RTPCR report and face masks at the entrance of the venue. The main awards evening will be held on Saturday with Salman, Riteish Deshmukh and Maniesh Paul as hosts. The IIFA Awards are being held in collaboration with the Department of Culture and Tourism Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi), and Miral. (With agency inputs)
