MUMBAI: Overshadowed by protests by minority Tamils and boycotted by South Indian stars like Kamal Haasan and director Mani Ratnam, the IIFA awards were presented at an extravagant ceremony in Colombo.

As expected the Aamir Khan starrer 3 Idiots swept this year‘s IIFA awards bagging eight honours including the best film award.

The film had been nominated in 12 of the 13 main categories of which it had already won eight of the 12 technical awards announced last month including best screenplay and best cinematography.

Amitabh Bachchan won the best actor award for his role as a progeria-afflicted child in Paa, while the best actress award was shared by Vidya Balan for Paa and Kareena Kapoor for 3 Idiots.

The best director award was lapped up by the 3 Idiots director Rajkumar Hirani. Also, Hirani along with Abhijat Joshi and Vidhu Vinod Chopra won the best story award for the same film.

While Sharman Joshi who played a stellar role in 3 Idiots won the best male supporting actor award, Divya Dutta received the best supporting actress award for her performance in Dilli 6.

3 Idiots won another laurel when Boman Irani clinched the award for his negative role in the film.

The surprise of the evening was when Sanjay Dutt was called to collect the award for best performance in a comic role for All the Best.

Composer Pritam edged out AR Rahman to win the best music director award for Love Aaj Kal. While Shaan was adjudged the best singer (male) for ‘Behti hawa sa tha woh‘ (3 Idiots), Kavita Seth won the best singer (female) for ‘Iktara‘ in Wake Up, Sid!

Swanand Kirkire won the best lyrics award for 3 Idiots.

While Omi Vaidya (Chatur Ramalingam of 3 Idiots) shared the debut male honours with Jackky Bhagnani (Kal Kissne Dekha), Jacqueline Fernandez shared the best debut female actress award with Mahie Gill for their roles in Aladin and Dev.D respectively.

Veteran filmmaker J Om Prakash, maternal grandfather of Hrithik Roshan and yesteryear actress Zeenat Aman were awarded with the Lifetime Achievement award.