IIFA Utsavam 2024: Mani Ratnam won the Best Director (Tamil) award for Ponniyin Selvan II. Aishwarya Rai bagged the Best Actress (Tamil) award for the film.

Actor Aishwarya Rai attended the International Indian Film Academy Awards (IIFA) Utsavam 2024 in Abu Dhabi along with her daughter Aaradhya Bachchan.

While speaking to the media, Aishwarya shared why Aaradhya Bachchan accompanies her ‘everywhere’.

Aaradhya Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai attended the IIFA Utsavam ceremony in Abu Dhabi on Friday.

Aishwarya spoke about her daughter

A video showed Aishwarya laughing and posing with Aaradhya on the red carpet when a reporter asked her why Aaradhya always accompanies her everywhere. “She’s my daughter. She goes with me everywhere,”

said the actor.

Earlier this week, Aaradhya also tagged along with Aishwarya to Paris where the actor walked the runway at a L’Oreal Paris event.

She has accompanied her to various Cannes Film Festival iterations and other events.

Aishwarya takes blessings from Mani Ratnam

Taking to its official Instagram account, IIFA Utsavam posted a clip of Aishwarya touching filmmaker Mani Ratnam’s feet.

The director won the Best Director (Tamil) award for Ponniyin Selvan II. Aishwarya presented Mani Ratnam with the award.

She touched his feet to take blessings and also gave him a hug as they smiled. For the event, Mani Ratnam was seen in a white shirt, blue jacket and pants.

Aishwarya won an award too

Aishwarya wore a black and golden outfit. She also won the Best Actress (Tamil) award for Ponniyin Selvan II. The film was nominated in 13 categories at IIFA Utsavam.

Aishwarya talk about Mani Ratnam

She also opened up about her association with Mani Ratnam. “I can’t even speak about his evolution as a maker because I have always respected him. So from the beginning, I just say I am very grateful that I got to work with him for my first movie. I was so honoured that he asked me to be his Nandini in Ponniyin Selvan,” she also said.

About Ponniyin Selvan

Ponniyin Selvan II is the sequel to the 2022 film. Apart from Aishwarya, the film also stars Vikram, Karthi, Jayam Ravi, Trisha, Aishwarya Lekshmi, Sobhita Dhulipala, Prakash Raj, Jayaram, Prabhu, R Sarathkumar, Parthiban, and Vikram Prabhu.

The second instalment of the epic drama narrates the story of the Chola Dynasty.

About IIFA 2024

The new edition of the IIFA is taking place in the Arab city from September 27 to September 29. The three-day celebration kicked off with IIFA Utsavam, an event dedicated to the southern film industries–Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada.

On the second day, Shah Rukh Khan, Vicky Kaushal and Karan Johar will come on stage to entertain the audience with their hosting stint at the IIFA Awards night.

Rekha will also return to the IIFA stage after a long time. Shahid Kapoor, Kriti Sanon, Ananya Panday, Janhvi Kapoor and Vicky will also perform.

IIFA 2024 will conclude on September 29 with the exclusive, invitation-only IIFA Rocks. Artists such as Honey Singh, Shilpa Rao and Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy will perform live for the audience.