(Image source from: travelguru.com)

The Indian Film Festival of Melbourne (IFFM) is scheduled to happen from August 10-22. On the jury are Simi Garewal, Nikkhil Advani, Sue Maslin, Jill Bilcock, Andrew Anastasios and Geoffrey Wright who will be choosing winners under the categories – Best Film, Best Indie Film, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director, Best Supporting Role and Best Director.

A bulk of the movies competing for the awards are from Bollywood, such as Padman, Hichki, Padmaavat, Sanju, Secret Superstar and Raazi. Two Tollywood films, Mahanati and Rangasthalam, are also in the competition for the Best Film award.

The nominees for the Best Actor award are Ranbir Kapoor (Sanju), Varun Dhawan (October), Fahadh Faasil (Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyum), Ranveer Singh (Padmaavat), Akshay Kumar (Padman), Manoj Bajpayee (In the Shadows), Soumitra Chatterjee (Mayurakshi) and Shahid Kapoor (Padmaavat).

The heroines competing for the Best Actress award are Keerthy Suresh (Mahanati), Rani Mukerji (Hichki), Vidya Balan (Tumhari Sulu), Deepika Padukone (Padmaavat), Alia Bhatt (Raazi), Bhanita Das (Village Rockstars), Tillotama Shome (Sir) and Zaira Wasim (Secret Superstar).

In the Best Director category, the nominations are Rajkumar Hirani (Sanju), Shoojit Sircar (October), R Balki (Padman), Siddharth P Malhotra (Hichki), Advait Chandan (Secret Superstar), Dipesh Jain (In the Shadows), Ere Gowda (Balekempa), Suresh Triveni (Tumhari Sulu), Sanjay Leela Bhansali (Padmaavat), Rima Das (Village Rockstars), Meghna Gulzar (Raazi), Tabrez Noorani (Love Sonia) and Rohena Gera (Sir).

Samantha Akkineni has been nominated in the Best Supporting Actor category for her performance in Mahanati.

Galore of stars, including Freida Pinto, Rani Mukerji, Vicky Kaushal, Ram Charan, Richa Chadha, Rajkumar Hirani, Ali Fazal, Simi Garewal and Malaika Arora, will attend this year's IFFM.

The fabled actors Shashi Kapoor and Sridevi Kapoor, who passed away recently, will be esteemed with peculiar screenings of their iconic movies Siddhartha and Chandni, respectively.

Subsequently, the IIFM this year has honored Indian actress Rani Mukerji to be chief Guest.

Mukerji will be hoisting Indian national flag at Melbourne's Main Public Square. She will be accompanying High Commissioner of India in Australia and The Mayor of Melbourne.

-Sowmya Sangam