SWA Awards 2026 Nominations: Aryan Khan, Aditya Dhar Dominate The Writers’ Race

The SWA Awards 2026 nominations were unveiled on Friday morning, celebrating some of the strongest writing across Indian films, streaming and television over the past year. Aryan Khan’s The Ba**ds of Bollywood* and Aditya Dhar’s Dhurandhar emerged as key contenders, while titles like Black Warrant, Khauf, Paatal Lok Season 2, Metro… In Dino and Superboys of Malegaon also secured major recognition across categories.

Aryan Khan and Aditya Dhar dominate SWA Awards 2026 nominations

Aryan Khan received multiple nominations for The Ba**ds of Bollywood* in the Web Comedy/Musical/Romance categories, including Best Story, Best Screenplay and Best Dialogue. The series was written by Aryan alongside Bilal Siddiqi and Manav Chauhan.

Meanwhile, Aditya Dhar’s Dhurandhar stood out in the feature film section with nominations for Best Screenplay and Best Dialogue. Other notable film nominees included Agra, Metro… In Dino, Stolen, Haq and Superboys of Malegaon.

The web drama categories saw strong competition from Black Warrant, Khauf, Paatal Lok Season 2 and Real Kashmir Football Club, all of which secured nominations across Story, Screenplay and Dialogue categories.

Black Warrant, Panchayat Season 4 and Khauf shine across categories

Panchayat Season 4 continued its strong awards run with nominations in writing and lyrics categories, while Khauf earned recognition for Smita Singh’s writing across multiple sections. In television, shows such as Pushpa Impossible, Itti Si Khushi and Megha Barsenge featured prominently.

The lyrics categories also brought together some of the industry’s most respected names, including Gulzar, Javed Akhtar, Amitabh Bhattacharya, Anvita Dutt and JUNO.

The jury panel included filmmakers, critics and screenwriters such as Hansal Mehta, Vijay Maurya, Devashish Makhija, Shefali Bhushan and Hussain Haidry among others. The awards ceremony is scheduled to take place on May 23.