Filmmaker Aditya Dhar’s Dhurandhar swept the Screen Awards 2026 in Mumbai, emerging as the biggest winner with 14 trophies, including Best Actor for Ranveer Singh. However, both Ranveer and director Aditya Dhar skipped the ceremony – something filmmaker Rahul Dholakia appeared to subtly call out.
Rahul Dholakia slams
On Monday, Rahul Dholakia took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to call out the poor attendance at the Screen Awards 2026, expressing disappointment over nominees and winners skipping the ceremony despite being aware of their wins in advance.
“Extremely disappointed ( Not surprised) that most people who were nominated for , and also won the awards did not show up to accept. I am not surprised because in most award functions, those winning it know in advance and attend only if there are winning,” Rahul wrote.
The director added, “Disappointed because – here #chetakscreenawards are trying to do something different, everyone knew about it, but they did not support. So it’s a fact that you are not one fraternity- you are the only one in your fraternity! But as @psinhajha says – Ayege- Zaroor Ayege – Hum Humara kaam karte rahege (They will come but till then we will continue doing our work) Well good luck Priyanka”.
Apart from Aditya, his wife and actor Yami Gautam was named as Best Actor (Female) for her performance in courtroom drama Haq. However, she was not present at the ceremony to accept the honour.
While Rahul didn’t name anyone directly, social media users were quick to connect the dots, speculating that he was calling out Aditya and Ranveer for skipping the ceremony. There were social media users who came forward to defend the team of Dhurandhar.
“Is Aamir Khan, Nana Patekar, Ajay Devgn not part of Bollywood fraternity who doesn’t go to award shows. You guys are hypocrite that’s why Dhurandhar team and anyone with spine will not go to such award shows,” one comment read.
Another social media user wrote, “It was tough competition this year but Dhurandhar certainly outdid every other movie, Homebound wasn’t anywhere close – glad Aditya Dhar didn’t waste time.”
“To hell with ur award shows! First you criticize a film before release and then when it becomes an all time blockbuster, suck up to it! Massive respect for @AdityaDharFilms @RanveerOfficial and others for boycotting this joke,” one wrote.
One mentioned, “When you and your group criticized and called that movie “propaganda” and shouting a bunch of nonsense about it, why would they attend?? Now don’t complain about them not attending an award show”, with another noting, “Extremely happy that Dhurandhar team didn’t show up…after all they had to face from the industry, it’s apt if them to stay away from this nepotism & biased s**t ppl”.
“Dhurandar team got the real award-Love from Audience and a HUGE Box office success,” one mentioned.
Aditya Dhar’s Dhurandhar wins big
The Screen Awards 2026 were held in Mumbai on Sunday. Aditya Dhar’s spy thriller Dhurandhar emerged as the biggest winner of the night, bagging 14 awards, with Ranveer Singh taking home the Best Actor trophy.
Aditya was named Best Director for his blockbuster film Dhurandhar, while Ranveer took home the Best Actor (Male) trophy for his portrayal of an Indian spy operating in Pakistan. Akshaye Khanna won Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Male) for his role as a gangster in Dhurandhar. Aditya also took home the Best Dialogue and Best Film Writing (Story & Screenplay) trophy for the spy thriller.
Shashwat Sachdev got the Best Background Score award for Dhurandhar, while Vikash Nowlakha got the Best Cinematography honour for his work on the spy thriller. Vijay Ganguly took home the Best Choreography trophy for Dhurandhar’s song Shararat. He was there to accept the honour.
Apart from Dhurandhar, Neeraj Ghaywan’s Homebound was named the Best Film award at the ceremony.
