'Neerja' named the Best Picture at IIFA 2017

'Neerja' was the big winner of the 2017 International Indian Film Academy (IIFA), when it took home the coveted award for Best Picture.

It outperformed 'Ae Dil Hai Mushkil,' 'MS Dhoni: The Untold Story,' 'Neerja,' 'Pink,' 'Sultan' and 'Udta Punjab' to bag the honour.

Moreover, congratulations are due for Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury after winning the Best Direction Award at the 2017 IIFA.

The 51-year-old film director stunned audiences with the Shoojit Sircar-produced film, which revolves around a courtroom drama about gender equality.

Other nominees in the field included Karan Johar for 'Ae Dil Hai Mushkil,' Neeraj Pandey for 'M.S. Dhoni,' Ram Madhvani for 'Neerja,' Ali Abbas Zafar for 'Sultan' and Abhishek Chaubey for 'Udta Punjab.'

Meanwhile, Shakun Batra and Ayesha Devitre Dhillon walked away with the award for Best Story.

Hosted by Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan and producer-director Karan Johar, the ceremony, which celebrates the achievements of Bollywood in different cities across the world, is a three-day extravaganza that started from July 13 and is being held at the iconic MetLife Stadium in New York.

The 18th edition of the Awards event kicked off with a fashion show and music in Times Square. On Friday, a concert was held honouring A.R. Rahman, the music composer who won two Oscars in 2009 for "Slumdog Millionaire." and a green carpet parade of stars in their finery was cancelled at the last minute owing to the poor weather.

Besides Bollywood celebrities, several Hollywood stars, including Angelina Jolie, action star Jackie Chan, Australian pop-star Kylie Minogue, British actor Colin Firth, Hollywood stars Hillary Swank, Kevin Spacey and John Travolta, have also been a part of IIFA in the past.

-ANI