OTTplay Awards 2025: Imtiaz Ali bags Best Director for Amar Singh Chamkila

Imtiaz Ali is one of the most popular filmmakers in the film industry. He has directed several hit movies in his career. The filmmaker bagged the Best Director award at the third edition of OTTplay Award 2025, which was held in Mumbai on March 22.

This is Imtiaz’s first win at the OTTplay Awards and his direction for Parineeti Chopra and Diljit Dosanjh’s Amar Singh Chamkila earned him the recognition. The film is a biographical drama based on the life of the Punjabi folk singer Amar Singh Chamkila, following his rise to fame, his musical journey, and his tragic end.

Imtiaz was presented the award by Irshaad Kaamil at the show that was hosted by Aparshakti Khurana and Kubra Sait. "Jo bhi main kehna chahu, barbaad kare irshaad mere," Imtiaz said, adding, "Ghar aaja naadaan parinde." This was all intended at Irshad Kamil, who presented the award to the filmmaker. He took the opportunity to confirm the duo will work much more. They went on to praise one another while stating so. Imtiaz also recalled how he completed 20 years in the industry.

Notably, this is Imtiaz Ali's first film that was released on an OTT platform (Netflix) on April 12, 2024.  His films, often exploring themes of love, identity, and personal growth, are known for their romantic narratives, journeys of self-discovery, and use of travel as a form of escapism. His most acclaimed films include Jab We Met "Love Aaj Kal, Rockstar, Tamasha, and Highway.

OTTplay Awards 2025 also saw the who’s who of Indian OTT space turn up, celebrating the theme - “One Nation, One Award”. The Roshans, Manoj Bajpayee and Kajol were also honoured at the award function, which had celebs from film industries including Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada.

OTTplay Awards 2025 is co-presented by Real Juice and Kuhl and powered by Stock Gro. The marquee event, held in partnership with HT City, has Flipkart Spoyl as the exclusive style partner, D Pauls as the travel partner, Amante as the premium lingerie partner, Propshop as the real estate partner, Aussie Lamb and Krishinet Fiber as the special partners, UDigital as the ISP and iPTV partner and Hyperlink as the event partner.