BAFTA 2026: Which female actors of Bollywood were presenters before Alia Bhatt?
India Today
Alia Bhatt will join Cillian Murphy, Kate Hudson, and Glenn Close as a presenter for the 2026 BAFTA Awards. We look at female Bollywood stars who've presented at the ceremony before her. Also looking at Boong, the Manipuri film in contention this year, besides the celeb list expected.
Actor Alia Bhatt will be joining Cillian Murphy, Kate Hudson, and Glenn Close among the presenters at the upcoming 2026 BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) Awards. Her inclusion in the awards ceremony marks a significant moment for Indian representation at international award shows. A glimpse at the actors who represented India at BAFTA before Alia.
Actor Priyanka Chopra debuted as a presenter at BAFTA 2021. She presented a category called EE BAFTA, or the Rising Star Award honouring new talent. Earlier called the Orange Rising Star Award, it was renamed as EE BAFTA owing to commercial reasons. Other presenters at BAFTA 2021 included Phoebe Dynevor, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Cynthia Erivo, Hugh Grant, Richard E. Grant, Tom Hiddleston, Felicity Jones, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, James McAvoy, David Oyelowo, and Pedro Pascal. Priyanka Chopra at BAFTA 2021.
Actor Deepika Padukone presented an award in the Film Not In The English Language category at BAFTA 2024. She presented director Jonathan Glazer with the award for The Zone Of Interest. The award ceremony, hosted by actor David Tennant, included a star-studded line-up of presenters including Hugh Grant, Dua Lipa, Idris Elba and Andrew Scott. Deepika Padukone at BAFTA 2024. (Credit: Instagram/deepkapadukone)
Apart from Alia, Indian presence at BAFTA 2026 is about the Manipuri film Boong, directed and written by Lakshmipriya Devi. Boong has been nominated in the Best Children's and Family Film category.
Boong is competing with films such as Ugo Bienvenu's French animated science fiction film Arco, Dean Fleischer Camp's live-action animated comedy from Hollywood, Lilo & Stitch, besides Jared Bush and Byron Howard's Hollywood animated comedy, Zootropolis 2, also known as Zootopia 2 in some markets.
This year’s BAFTA Awards will feature a notable line-up of nominees. Among those expected are Jacob Elordi, Leonardo DiCaprio, Timothe Chalamet, Chlo Zhao, Teyana Taylor, Yorgos Lanthimos, Emma Stone, Benicio del Toro, Jesse Plemons, Odessa A’Zion, Paul Thomas Anderson, and Rose Byrne.
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