CNN-News18 has announced the nominees for the Entertainment and Youth Icon categories of the 16th edition of its flagship awards, Indian of the Year 2026. The awards recognise individuals whose achievements in 2026 have made a significant impact across entertainment, music, cinema and digital culture.

In the Entertainment category, actor and filmmaker Dhanush has been nominated following a notable year in which he received recognition at the 72nd National Film Awards. His film ‘Raayan’ was named Best Tamil Film, while he received a Special Mention for his performance in ‘Captain Miller’, adding to his achievements as an actor and director.

Singer Shreya Ghoshal is also among the nominees. In March 2026, she released ‘The All Hearts Tour – Live’, becoming the first Indian female artiste in three decades to release a live album, according to the announcement. She also won the Screen Award for Best Playback Singer (Female) for the title track of ‘Saiyaara’.

Filmmaker Vishal Chaturvedi earned a nomination for his devotional drama ‘Hanuman Ansh’, which crossed Rs.200 crore at the Indian box office despite being made on a reported budget of around Rs.2 crore. Chaturvedi waived his directing fee and completed the film at half its originally planned budget after investors withdrew.

Other nominees in the Entertainment category include filmmaker Imtiaz Ali, whose ‘Main Vaapas Aaunga’ completed a 50-day theatrical run with a reported worldwide gross of approximately Rs.99 crore before entering Netflix’s global Top 10 for non-English films. Actor Jim Sarbh has also been nominated for his portrayal of Xerxes Desai in ‘Made in India: A Titan Story’. The series recorded 41.8 million unique viewers in its first three weeks on Amazon MX Player.

The Youth Icon category features comedian and digital creator Samay Raina, whose show ‘India’s Got Latent’ returned for a second season with a simulcast on YouTube and Netflix India. One subsequent episode crossed 61 million views on YouTube. The announcement also highlighted Raina and his co-creators’ disability-awareness and fundraising efforts, which were noted by the Supreme Court in August while it quashed FIRs connected to an earlier controversy surrounding the show.

Actress Mamitha Baiju is another nominee after achieving a notable box-office milestone in 2026. According to the announcement, she became the first South Indian actress and the third Indian actress overall, after Deepika Padukone and Alia Bhatt, to feature in three films that each crossed Rs.200 crore worldwide in a single calendar year.

The Youth Icon nominees also include musician Sai Abhyankkar, whose breakthrough singles have crossed a combined 600 million YouTube views, and who has been announced as the composer for Suriya’s upcoming Hombale Films project. Rapper Daiaphi Lamare, known as Reble, has been recognised for bringing musical influences from Northeast India to a wider audience through her multilingual contributions to ‘Dhurandhar’.

Actor and digital creator Dharna Durga rounds out the category’s nominees. She made her acting debut in Suresh Triveni’s Netflix film ‘Maa Behen’, which reached No. 2 on Netflix’s Global Top 10 for non-English films.

Public voting for CNN-News18 Indian of the Year 2026 is now open through the awards’ official website. The event is presented by RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group, with JK Tyre and Reliance Industries Limited as associate partners.

Viewers can cast their votes at CNN-News18 Indian of the Year.