IIFA Digital Awards 2025 that were held in Jaipur on March 8 celebrated the best of streaming content. Among the big winners were the rural dramadeby Panchayat and Imtiaz Ali’s biopic Amar Singh Chamkila. As for acting, Kriti Sanon and Vikrant Massey won top honours for their flawless performances. The incredible Deepak Dobriyal too bagged Best Performance award in a supporting role for Sector 36. Ahead of the big win, Deepak spoke exclusively to BollywoodLife about how playing Inspector Ram Charan Pandey helped him break free from the comic image he has enjoyed for years, courtesy his iconic character Puppy Singh from Tanu weds Manu.
Directed by debutant Aditya Nimbalkar and written by Bodhayan Roychaudhury, Sector 36 was based on the true incident – the infamous 2006 Nithari killings. Back in 2006, the case made headlines for the claims of organ trafficking, cannibalism, and necrophilia. The two men accused which included a rich businessman and his domestic help were put on death row for rape and murder. However, in 2023, the Allahabad High Court acquitted them. It not only cited a lack of sound evidence, but also slammed the investigation for being a mess.
Ahead of the award ceremony, Deepak explained how playing Ram Charan Pandey, a sub-inspector who’s all about respecting the ‘system’, helped him gain recognition for his range as an actor. “Mai yahan pe apni film ke liye hoon jisne mujhe alag tarah ka pyaar dilaya. (I’m here only for my film Sector 36 that helped me get viewers’ love for a role that not many have seen me portray). I played a different character in the film. Sector 36 remains important to me for it helped me break the image of a comedic actor. Ek serious actor ke taur pe ab mere baare mei puri industry mei baat chal rahi hai. Sab log yehi baat kar rahe hain. Jabki aapko pata hai ki aap kar sakte they. Logon ne dekha nahi tha toh maante nahi they. Unka sabse fabourite abhi bhi puppy ji hai hai. (The entire industry is talking about me as a serious actor. That has kept everyone busy. This isn’t knew because I knew I could do it, but people weren’t ready to accept it because they hadn’t seen it. For them, Puppy ji still remains popular.)
See the full winners list
Film Category
Best Film: Amar Singh Chamkila
Performance in a Leading Role, Female (Film): Kriti Sanon for Do Patti
Performance in a Leading Role, Male (Film): Vikrant Massey for Sector 36
Best Direction (Film): Imtiaz Ali for Amar Singh Chamkila
Performance in a Supporting Role, Female (Film): Anupriya Goenka for Berlin
Performance in a Supporting Role, Male (Film): Deepak Dobriyal for Sector 36
Best Story Original (Film): Kanika Dhillon for Do Patti
Series Category
Best Series: Panchayat Season 3
Performance in a Leading Role, Female (Series): Shreya Chaudhry for Bandish Bandits Season 2
Performance in a Leading Role, Male (Series): Jitendra Kumar for Panchayat Season 3
Direction (Series): Deepak Kumar Mishra for Panchayat Season 3
Performance in a Supporting Role, Female (Series): Sanjeeda Shaikh for Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar
Performance in a Supporting Role, Male (Series): Faisal Malik for Panchayat Season 3
Miscellaneous
Best Story Original (Series): Kota Factory Season 3
Best Reality or Best Non-scripted series: Fabulous Lives Vs. Bollywood Wives
Best Docuseries/Docu Film: Yo Yo Honey Singh: Famous
Best Title Track: Anurag Saikia for Ishq Hai from Mismatched Season 3
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