MUMBAI: PriceWaterhouseCoopers has released the nominations for the Idea IIFA Awards 2006 as per the results of voting by the film industry. The nominations were derived from the IIFA Voting Weekend held in the first week of April.

During the course of the week, the best talent from Indian cinema including producers, actors, film directors, music directors, scriptwriters and singers cast their votes for the Popular and Technical awards. The nominations for the Popular Awards are now open for public voting, using the globally accessible www.msn.com/iifa and www.indya.com platforms. The voting process is monitored and audited by PriceWaterhouseCoopers, who are also the audit firm for the Oscars, informs an official release.

The nominees for the best picture are Black, Bunty aur Babli, Iqbal, No Entry, Page 3 and Parineeta. In the best director category, Madhur Bhandarkar, Nagesh Kukunoor, Pradeep Sarkar, Prakash Jha and Sanjay Leela Bhansali have made it to the final list.

In the best actor category, the nominees are Amitabh Bachchan, Saif Ali Khan and Shah Rukh Khan. In the actress category, the final nominee list includes Konkana Sen Sharma, Preity Zinta, Rani Mukherjee and Vidya Balan.

This year's IIFA Awards ceremony will be held on 17 June in Dubai.