BAFTA Awards 2026: India's Boong win in Best Children's film catagory

Boong, a Manipuri-language coming-of-age film about a boy searching for his missing father along the Myanmar border, won Best Children's & Family Film at the 2026 BAFTA Awards, beating Disney's Lilo & Stitch and Zootopia 2, as well as Natalie Portman-backed Arco. It's the only Indian film nominated across all BAFTA categories this year, and the first Manipuri film to ever win a BAFTA. It was the sole Indian nominee at the BAFTAs this year. Boong follows a young schoolboy (Gugun Kipgen) from Manipur’s valley who refuses to believe rumors that his father Joykumar has died after migrating to the border city of Moreh, near Myanmar, for work. Determined to bring his father home as a gift for his mother Mandakini (Bala Hijam), Boong teams up with his best friend Raju (a Rajasthani outsider) to search for the truth. Directed by Lakshmipriya Devi and produced by Farhan Akhtar along with Vikesh Bhutani, Alan McAlex, Ritesh Sidhwani and Shujaat Saudagar, the film stars Gugun Kipgen and Bala Hijam. Farhan Akhtar was present at the ceremony to collect the award.

Lakshmipriya Devi accepts the #EEBAFTAs Children’s and Family Film award for Boong pic.twitter.com/TFBnBmDVSx

— BAFTA (@BAFTA) February 22, 2026

The announcement was made by the official BAFTA page. It premiered at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival and was named Spotlight Film at the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne last year before landing its BAFTA nomination in January.