August 23, 2026

A jury tends to notice the debut it was told to expect. An audience notices the one that surprised it. 2026 has given us an unusually clean example of both.

The award show cuts to a commercial before the dialogue award. Here is the year’s best screenplay, dialogue, cinematography and action design — and the one craft that went a whole year without a single named credit.

On 27 January, India’s most-streamed singer said he would take no more playback assignments. By August, the five biggest songs in the country were not from any film at all.

Netflix says one number. Ormax says another. Prime Video says nothing at all. India’s biggest streaming shows cannot be compared with each other — because nobody is counting the same thing.

India’s box office had its strongest first half since the pandemic — and its narrowest. Fifteen films took 58% of everything. Box office measures tickets. It does not measure what people would vote for.

Shershaah swept, a daily-soap supporting actor out-polled the year’s most popular Bollywood director, and a debut beat almost every established name. Reading the last edition by its numbers.

IFTA has no jury and no panel deciding winners. Here is how nominees are researched, why voting is OTP-verified, and what is on the 49-category ballot for 2026.