The 68th Filmfare Awards honored stories and characters that challenged stereotypes, with Alia Bhatt’s ‘Gangubai Kathiawadi’ and LGBTQ comedy-drama ‘Badhaai Do’ emerging as top winners.

Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s ‘Gangubai Kathiawadi’ won ten awards, including Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor in a Leading Role (Female) for Alia Bhatt, Best Dialogue, Best Costume, Best Choreography, Best Cinematography, and Best Production Design.

The film was based on a chapter from noted author Hussain Zaidi’s book ‘Mafia Queens of Mumbai’.

For the first time, Salman Khan hosted the ceremony, along with co-hosts Ayushmann Khurrana and Maniesh Paul.

Vicky Kaushal, Govinda, Janhvi Kapoor, Tiger Shroff, and Jacqueline Fernandez performed at the annual star-studded show, which was attended by the who’s who of the Hindi film industry, PTI reported from Mumbai.

‘Badhaai Ho’ was the night’s second big winner, dominating the critics’ section.

While Rajkummar Rao was named Best Actor in a Leading Role (Male) for his portrayal of a gay police officer, Bhumi Pednekar was named Best Actress (Critics) for her portrayal of a lesbian PT teacher. She shared the award for ‘Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2’ with Tabu.

‘Badhaai Do’, directed by Harshavardhan Kulkarni, also won Best Film (Critics), Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Female) for Sheeba Chadha, Best Story for Akshat Ghildiyal and Suman Adhikary and Best Screenplay.

Best Actor (Critics) went to Sanjay Mishra for the thriller movie ‘Vadh’. Bhatt’s ‘Brahmastra Part One: Shiva’, co-starring her actor-husband Ranbir Kapoor, took home Best Music Album (Pritam), Best Lyrics for ‘Kesariya’ (Amitabh Bhattcharya), Best Playback Singer (Male) for Arijit Singh, Best Sound Design and Best VFX awards.

Best Actor in a Supporting Role went to Anil Kapoor for ‘Jugjugg Jeyo’ and the film also won the Best Playback Singer (Female) award for Kavita Seth.

Filmmaker duo Jaspal Singh Sandhu and Rajeev Barnwal won best debut director for ‘Vadh’.

‘Anek’ actor Andrea Kevichusa was awarded the Best Debut Female, while Best Debut Male went to Ankush Gedam for ‘Jhund’.

Parvez Shaikh received the Best Action trophy for Hrithik Roshan-Saif Ali Khan’s ‘Vikram Vedha’. Best Editing went to Ninad Khanolkar for ‘An Action Hero’.

Veteran actor Prem Chopra was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award.