When and where to watch Chetak Screen Awards 2026

Also Read – Screen Academy unveils Chetak Screen Awards: Here are the nominees for the finest in film and OTT

Who is hosting Chetak Screen Awards?

Actor Alia Bhatt, who is best known for her work in films like Gangubai Kathiawadi, Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani, Highway, Udta Punjab, among many other films, will be hosting Chetak Screen Awards. Actor-comedian Sunil Grover and stand-up comedian Zakir Khan will accompany Alia. Saurabh Dwivedi, Editor – Hindi, The Indian Express, will also be hosting the event.

What to expect?

This year, the Chetak Screen Awards will honour talent across 31 categories, spanning both theatrical releases and OTT films, and recognising not just actors but also technicians who contribute significantly to filmmaking.

Who are the frontrunners?

Leading the nominations is Aditya Dhar’s espionage thriller Dhurandhar, a massive box office success, with 24 nods. It is followed by Mohit Suri’s romantic musical Saiyaara with 17 nominations, and Neeraj Ghaywan’s poignant tale of friendship, Homebound, which has secured 15 nominations.

Also Read – Chetak Screen Awards 2026 Nominations: Who decides, and what’s the process

How are winners selected?

Winners will be chosen by the SCREEN Academy, an independent, not-for-profit body comprising over 50 acclaimed filmmakers, artistes, and cultural voices. To ensure fairness and consistency, a detailed evaluation framework has been designed by Dr Priya Jaikumar, Professor and Chair of Cinema and Media Studies at the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts, Los Angeles.

With a strong emphasis on transparency and merit, the Chetak Screen Awards promise to set a new benchmark for film awards in India.

Who are the Screen Academy members?

1. Abhishek Chaubey – Director & Screenwriter
2. Amit Ray- Production Designer
3. Amritpal Singh Bindra – Film producer, Director & Writer
4. Anand Mahindra – Patron of 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

To know more about the Screen Academy and its members, visit https://screen-academy.org/

Who are Chetak Screen Awards nominees?

Check out the complete list of nominations for Chetak Screen Awards 2026:

Best Action

120 Bahadur – Amritpal Singh, Marek Svitek

Chhaava – Parvez Shaikh

Deva – Supreme Sundar, Abbas Ali Moghul, Anl Arasu, Vikram Dahiya, Parvez Shaikh

Dhurandhar – Aejaz Gulab, Sea Young Oh, Yannick Ben, Ramazan Bulut

Jaat – Ram Laxman, V Venkat, Peter Hein, Anl Arasu

Best Actor (Female)

Triptii Dimri – Dhadak 2

Yami Gautam Dhar – Haq

Sonal Madhushankar – Humans in the Loop

Konkona Sen Sharma – Metro… In Dino

Monika Panwar – Nishaanchi

Radhika Apte – Sister Midnight

Kriti Sanon – Tere Ishk Mein

Best Actor (Female) – OTT Film

Fatima Sana Shaikh – Aap Jaisa Koi

Sanya Malhotra – Mrs

Radhika Apte – Saali Mohabbat

Saba Azad – Songs of Paradise

Mia Maelzer – Stolen

The Great Shamsuddin Family – Farida Jalal

Shreya Chaudhry – The Mehta Boys

Best Actor (Male)

Vicky Kaushal – Chhaava

Siddhant Chaturvedi – Dhadak 2

Ranveer Singh – Dhurandhar

Vishal Jethwa – Homebound

Ishaan Khatter – Homebound

Manoj Bajpayee – Jugnuma: The Fable

Adarsh Gourav – Superboys Of Malegaon

Best Actor (Male) – OTT film

Manoj Bajpayee – Inspector Zende

Abhishek Bachchan – Kaalidhar Laapata

Nawazuddin Siddiqui – Raat Akeli Hai The Bansal Murders

Abhishek Banerjee – Stolen

Shubham Vardhan – Stolen

Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Female)

Divya Dutta – Chhaava

Sheeba Chadha – Haq

Shalini Vatsa – Homebound

Dolly Ahluwalia – Sitaare Zameen Par

Manjiri Pupala – Superboys Of Malegaon

Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Male)

Akshaye Khanna – Dhurandhar

Rakesh Bedi – Dhurandhar

Naseeruddin Shah – Gustaakh Ishq

Saurabh Shukla – Jolly LLB 3

Deepak Dobriyal – Jugnuma: The Fable

Best Background Score

Chhaava – AR Rahman

Dhurandhar – Shashwat Sachdev

Haq – Sandeep Chowta

Homebound – Naren Chandavarkar, Benedict Taylor

Saiyaara – John Stewart Eduri

Best Choreography

Azaad – Ui Amma – Bosco Leslie Martis

Deva – Bhasad Macha – Bosco Leslie Martis

Dhurandhar – Shararat – Vijay Ganguly

Sunny Sanskari Ki Tulsi Kumari – Panwadi Song – Ganesh Acharya

Thamma – Dilbar Ki Aankhon Ka – Vijay Ganguly

Best Cinematography

Dhurandhar – Vikash Nowlakha

Homebound – Pratik Shah

Humans in the Loop – Monica Tiwari, Harshit Saini, Gunjan Jaywant

Jugnuma: The Fable – Sunil Ramkrishna Borkar

Superboys of Malegaon – Swapnil. S. Sonawane (ISC)

Best Costume

Chhaava – Sheetal Iqbal Sharma

Dhurandhar – Smriti Chauhan

Gustaakh Ishq – Manish Malhotra, Shivank Vikram Kapoor

Homebound – Rohit Chaturvedi

Superboys of Malegaon – Bhawna Sharma

Best Dialogue

Dhurandhar – Aditya Dhar

Haq – Reshu Nath

Homebound – Neeraj Ghaywan, Varun Grover, Shreedhar Dubey

Jolly LLB 3 – Subhash Kapoor

Superboys of Malegaon – Varun Grover, Shoaib Zulfi Nazeer

Best Director

Laxman Ramchandra Utekar – Chhaava

Aditya Dhar – Dhurandhar

Suparn S Varma – Haq

Neeraj Ghaywan – Homebound

Raam Reddy — Jugnuma: The Fable

Mohit Suri – Saiyaara

Reema Kagti – Superboys Of Malegaon

Best Director – OTT film

Arati Kadav – Mrs

Honey Trehan – Raat Akeli Hai – The Bansal Murders

Karan Tejpal – Stolen

Anusha Rizvi – The Great Shamsuddin Family

Boman Irani – The Mehta Boys

Best Editing

Dhurandhar – Shivkumar V. Panicker

Haq – Ninad Khanolkar

Homebound – Nitin Baid

Saiyaara – Devendra Murdeshwar, Rohit Makwana

Superboys of Malegaon – Anand Subaya

Best Film

Dhadak 2 – Karan Johar, Umesh Kumar Bhansal, Adar Poonawalla, Apoorva Mehta, Meenu Aroraa, Somen Mishra, Pragati Deshmukh, Marijke DeSouza

Dhurandhar – Jyoti Deshpande, Lokesh Dhar, Aditya Dhar

Haq – Vineet Jain, Vishal Gurnani, Harman Baweja, Juhi Parekh Mehta, Amrita Pandey, Suparn S Varma, Rowena Baweja, Sandeep Singh

Homebound – Karan Johar, Adar Poonawalla, Apoorva Mehta, Somen Mishra, Marijke DeSouza, Melita Toscan Du Plantier

Saiyaara – Akshaye Widhani

Sitaare Zameen Par – Aamir Khan, Aparna Purohit

Jugnuma: The Fable – Sunil Ramkrishna Borkar

Superboys of Malegaon – Swapnil. S. Sonawane (ISC)

Best Film for Gender Sensitivity

Dhadak 2 – Karan Johar, Umesh Kumar Bhansal, Adar Poonawalla, Apoorva Mehta, Meenu Aroraa, Somen Mishra, Pragati Deshmukh, Marijke DeSouza

Haq – Vineet Jain, Vishal Gurnani, Harman Baweja, Juhi Parekh Mehta, Amrita Pandey, Suparn S Varma, Rowena Baweja, Sandeep Singh

Humans in the Loop – Mathivanan Rajendran, Sarabhi Ravichandran, Shilpa Kumar, Aranya Sahay

Mrs – Jyoti Deshpande, Harman Baweja, Pammi Baweja, Smitha Baliga

The Great Shamsuddin Family – Alok Jain, Ajit Andhare, Mahmood Farooqui

Best Film Writing (Story & Screenplay)

Dhurandhar – Aditya Dhar

Haq – Reshu Nath

Homebound – Basharat Peer, Neeraj Ghaywan, Sumit Roy

Humans in the Loop – Aranya Sahay

Superboys of Malegaon – Varun Grover

Best Hairstyling & Make-Up

Chhaava – Shrikant Desai

Dhurandhar – Preetisheel Singh D’souza

Emergency – Elizabeth Lawson Zeiss, Dhananjay M. Prajapat

Homebound – Khyati Malhotra

Superboys of Malegaon – Tarannum Khan, Avan Contractor, Dianne Commissariat

Best Lyrics

Dhurandhar – Gehra Hua – Irshad Kamil

Gustaakh Ishq – Ul Julool Ishq – Gulzar

Homebound – Yaar Mere – Varun Grover

Saiyaara – Saiyaara Title Track – Irshad Kamil

Superboys of Malegaon – Bande – Javed Akhtar

Best OTT Film

Mrs – Jyoti Deshpande, Harman Baweja, Pammi Baweja, Smitha Baliga

Raat Akeli Hai – The Bansal Murders – Ronnie Screwvala, Honey Trehan, Abhishek Chaubey

Stolen – Gaurav Dhingra

The Great Shamsuddin Family – Alok Jain, Ajit Andhare, Mahmood Farooqui

The Mehta Boys – Boman Irani, Danesh Irani, Shujaat Saudagar, Vikesh Bhutani

Best Playback Singer (Female)

Dhurandhar – Shararat – Jasmine Sandlas, Madhubanti Bagchi

Metro… In Dino – Qayde Se – Shreya Ghosal

Saiyaara – Saiyaara Title Track – Shreya Ghosal

Saiyaara – Barbaad – Shilpa Rao

Saiyaara – Humsafar – Parampara Tandon

Best Playback Singer (Male)

Dhurandhar – Dhurandhar Title Track – Hanumankind, Sudhir Yaduvanshi, Shashwat Sachdev, Mohd. Sadiq

Dhurandhar – Gehra Hua – Arijit Singh, Shashwat Sachdev, Armaan Khan

Saiyaara – Saiyaara Title Track – Faheem Abdullah

Saiyaara – Dhun – Arijit Singh

Saiyaara – Barbaad – Jubin Nautiyal

Best Production Design

Chhaava – Subrata Chakraborty, Amit Ray

Dhurandhar – Saini S. Johray

Gustaakh Ishq – Madhumita Sen, Ajay Sharma (EASEEL)

Homebound – Khyatee Kanchan

Superboys of Malegaon – Sally White

Haq – Sonam Singh, Abhijit Gaonkar (Megamind Studio)

Kesari Chapter 2 – Rita Ghosh

Best Script – OTT film

Mrs – Harman Baweja, Anu Singh Choudhary, Arati Kadav

Raat Akeli Hai – The Bansal Murders – Smita Singh

Songs of Paradise – Danish Renzu, Sunayana Kachroo, Niranjan Iyengar

Stolen – Karan Tejpal, Gaurav Dhingra, Swapnil Salkar (AGADBUMB)

The Mehta Boys – Alexander Dinelaris, Boman Irani

Best Song

Dhurandhar – Dhurandhar Title Track – Shashwat Sachdev, Charanjit Ahuja

Dhurandhar – Gehra Hua – Shashwat Sachdev

Saiyaara – Saiyaara Title Track – Tanishk Bagchi, Faheem Abdullah, Arslan Nizami

Saiyaara – Barbaad – The Rish

Saiyaara – Humsafar – Sachet-Parampara

Best Sound Design

Chhaava – Bishwadeep Chatterjee

Dhurandhar – Bishwadeep Chatterjee

Homebound – Sanjay Maurya, Allwin Rego

Humans in the Loop -Kalhan Raina

Saiyaara – Ganesh Gangadharan (YRF Studios)

Best Special Effects

120 Bahadur – NOLABEL, Frame X VFX Studio, Snow Team, Vishal Tyagi, Manish Tyagi

Chhaava – Somesh Samit Ghosh, Gary Brown, Simon Frame, Vishal Tyagi, Manish Tyagi

Dhurandhar – Envision VFX, Philm CGI, Resonance Digital, Dhruti Ranjan Sahoo, Vishal Tyagi, Raza Mohammed Shaikh, Gagan Kholi

Jugnuma: The Fable – Varun Ramanna

Thamma – James Austin, Somesh Ghosh, Kunal Jagdish Sodha, D. Nishtha Varsha, Vishal Tyagi

Breakthrough Debut Director

Shazia Iqbal – Dhadak 2

Dibakar Das Roy – Dilli Dark

Aranya Sahay – Humans in the Loop

Karan Singh Tyagi – Kesari Chapter 2

Karan Kandhari – Sister Midnight

Breakthrough New Actor (Female)

Rasha Thadani – Azaad

Sara Arjun – Dhurandhar

Ridhima Singh – Humans in the Loop

Aneet Padda – Saiyaara

Shubhangi Dutt – Tanvi the Great

Breakthrough New Actor (Male)

Mohit Agarwal – Agra

Aaman Devgan – Azaad

Samuel Abiola Robinson – Dilli Dark

Aaishvary Thackeray – Nishaanchi

Ahaan Panday – Saiyaara

Watch Chetak Screen Awards 2026 LIVE on YouTube, Sony Entertainment Television, and Sony LIV on April 5 at 8 pm.