'2 States', 'Haider' dominate Filmfare Awards nominations

Mumbai: Romantic comedy '2 States' starring Alia Bhatt and Arjun Kapoor is leading the nominations list of the 60th Filmfare Awards with seven nods, closely followed by Vishal Bhardwaj's Shakespearean tragedy 'Haider'.

'2 States', which is based on a novel of the same name, has bagged nominations in key categories including best film, best director for debutante Abhishek Varman, best supporting actor male (Ronit Roy) and best supporting actress for Amrita Singh, who plays a loud Punjabi mother in the movie.

Besides, the film has also received three nominations in the music categories - best music (Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy), best singer for Arijit Singh ('Mast Magan') and Benny Dayal ('Locha-e-Ulfat').

Bhardwaj's Kashmir-set crime drama, based on Shakespeare's 'Hamlet' will give tough competition to '2 States' in the best film, best director, best supporting actor (Kay Kay Menon) and actress (Tabu) categories.

The film's lead Shahid Kapoor has bagged a nod in the best actor list and will fight it out with Aamir Khan ('PK'), Hrithik Roshan ('Bang Bang'), Akshay Kumar ('Holiday') and Randeep Hooda ('Rang Rasiya').

'Haider' has also earned Gulzar a nomination in best lyrics category for 'Bismil'. Coming-of-age Kangana Ranaut-starrer 'Queen', last year's biggest surprise hit, has received five nods which includes best actress, best film, best director for Vikas Bahl, best supporting actress for Lisa Haydon and best music for Amit Trivedi.

Imtiaz Ali's road movie 'Highway' and Aamir Khan-starrer 'PK' have received three nominations apiece. The Rajkumar Hirani-directed film has got a nod in the best director, best film and best actor for Aamir, while Alia Bhatt (best actress) Irshad Kamil (best lyrics) and Sultan Nooran, Jyoti Nooran (best female singer) have received nominations for 'Highway'. 

Other nominees in the best actress category are Madhuri Dixit ('Dedh Ishqiya'), Priyanka Chopra ('Mary Kom'), Rani Mukerji ('Mardaani') and Sonam Kapoor ('Khoobsurat'). 'Mary Kom', a biopic on the life of the Olympic boxer has bagged a nod for best film as well.

Anurag Kashyap has been nominated in the best director category for his dark thriller 'Ugly'. Last year's two biggest films- Shah Rukh Khan's 'Happy New Year' and 'Kick' starring Salman Khan just got two and one nomination respectively. Abhishek Bachchan has bagged a nod in the best supporting actor list for 'Happy New Year' besides best female singer (Shreya Ghoshal) for 'Happy New Year'.

However, 'Kick' managed a lone nomination in the best music category for Himesh Reshamiya, Meet Brothers and Honey Singh. Besides Abhishek, Ronit and Kay Kay, other best supporting actor nominees are Tahir Bhasin ('Mardaani') and Riteish Deshmukh ('Ek Villain'). Dimple Kapadia ('Finding Fanny') and Juhi Chawla (Gulaab Gang') have been nominated for best supporting actress category.

'Yaariyan' and 'Ek Villain' have nominations in the best music category, while Amitabh Bhattacharya ('Hasee Toh Phasee'), Kausar Munir ('Youngistaan') and Rashmi Singh are included in the best lyrics list.
Kanika Kapoor ('Baby Doll' from 'Ragini MMS'), Rekha Bhardwaj ('Humari Attariya Pe' from 'Dedh Ishqiya') and Sona Mahapatra ('Naina' from 'Khoobsurat') have a nod each in the best female singer category.

The best male singer list was rounded off by Ankit Tiwari ('Galiyaan' from 'Ek Villain'), Arijit Singh ('Suno Na Sang' from 'Youngistaan') and Shekhar Ravjani ('Zehenaseeb' from 'Hasee Toh Phasee' rounded up the best male singer list. The 60th Filmfare Awards will take place on January 31 here.