IIFA Rocks: Shankar Ehsaan Loy's joyous concert caps off three-day celebration in Abu Dhabi

The International Indian Film Academy’s 24th event – their third consecutive in Abu Dhabi – concluded its third and final day with a celebration of the industry's musicians and technical workers, who rarely take the spotlight.

Dubbed IIFA Rocks, Sunday's hybrid award show and concert was an ode to the people “hidden behind the curtains, who craft the backbone of movie magic,” according to its hosts, actors Siddhant Chaturvedi and Abhishek Banerjee.

This night's biggest prizes went to Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s Animal, Atlee’s Jawan, and Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s 12th Fail and Karan Johar’s Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani. Each of those films also took home accolades at Saturday's awards ceremony.

Composer, lyricist and playback singer Harshavardhan Rameshwar bagged the award for Best Background Score for his work in Animal, treating the audience to an impromptu beatbox performance during his acceptance speech.

The wins for Animal didn’t stop there. Sound designers Sachin Sudhakaran and Hari Haran were jointly awarded for their work in the Ranbir Kapoor starrer. Both are co-founders of Chennai recording studio Sync Cinema, whose credits also include Lokesh Kanagaraj’s high-octane Tamil action thriller Leo and this year’s Malayalam-language 3D action adventure ARM.

Sudhakaran, as part of his acceptance speech, was grateful to the team that helped them put together a great final product. They also gave a shoutout to Vanga, who “pushes us to the next level, to be our best selves," he added.

Animal also won Best Editing. Vanga, who also edited the film, credited the work of director Ram Gopal Verma, famed for the 1998 film Satya amongst many others. “Everything I’ve learned about editing was simply by spending all my time and attention watching [Verma] at work,” the filmmaker said.

Atlee’s Jawan also took home several awards, winning or Best Sound Mixing, Best Cinematography and Best Visual Effects. Accepting the latter, Keitan Yadav of Red Chillies VFX gave a shoutout to Shah Rukh Khan, who owns the company.

While Khan may be more famous for his acting, Yadav said that he should be also be credited for helping to create a visual effects industry “that could stand toe-to-toe with the rest of the world. Back in 2002, when nobody in India had a clue about the power of visual effects work.”

After the technical accolades were awarded, the show became primarily music focused, with singer Karan Aujla given the International Trendsetter of the Year award for his hit single Tauba Tauba from Bad Newz, and duo Bosco-Ceasar bagging Best Choreography for both of Pathaan’s singles.

Shilpa Rao, winner of Best Singer, made a stunning, neon-adorned appearance, belting out hits from her recent chartbusting Bollywood numbers from Pathaan, Jawan, and War, among many others. Rao was preceded by Hirdesh “Yo Yo Honey” Singh, who brought his singular energy to his set. Singh was introduced by Romanian actor Iulia Vantur, who herself performed various different retro and modern Bollywood favorites.

The standout moment of the event was a towering show by Bollywood music composing trio Shankar Ehsaan Loy. Comprised of singer Shankar Mahadevan, guitarist Ehsaan Noorani and keyboard player Loy Mendonsa, the versatile Bollywood hitmakers – who have been active in the industry for about three decades – took the audience down memory lane for a medley of their greatest hits.

Crediting Farhan Akhtar’s genre defining debut comedy-drama Dil Chahta Hai for putting them on the map, their live rendition of the movie’s title track brought the crowd's energy back up after a packed three-day celebration.

Mahadevan dedicated Kal Ho Naa Ho’s Bhangra-infused adaptation of Roy Orbison’s Pretty Woman to all the women in the crowd, adding, “Women rock, so let’s give women a bigger reason to rock here and now.”

The highlight of the trio's performance was another one of their heartfelt dedications – this time to director Rakeysh Om Prakash Mehra, with whom they’ve consistently collaborated since critically acclaimed sports biopic Bhaag Milkha Bhaag. The filmmaker, 61, was in attendance, and danced in the front row as the group performed Dil Dhadakne Do’s Gallan Goodiyan, to the delight of the crowd.

The late theatrics and convivial energy elevated the final night of the IIFA weekend in Abu Dhabi into perhaps the most joyous of all, closing out with an ode to the “one industry, one voice” sentiment the event was held under.