By Radhika Bhirani
Macau, June 13 (IANS) Internationally acclaimed and double Oscar winning composer A.R. Rahman was Saturday named the best music director at the IDEA International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) awards here for his soulful compositions in the historical romance “Jodhaa Akbar”.

Rahman couldn’t attend the event and director Ashutosh Gowariker received the award on his behalf.

The best male playback singer award went to Javed Ali for crooning “Jashn-e-bahaara” in “Johdaa Akbar”, while Shreya Ghoshal was named the best female playback singer for “Teri ore” in hit romantic comedy “Singh is Kinng”.

Well-known Bollywood writer Javed Akhtar won the best lyricist award for penning the song “Jashn-e-bahaara” for “Jodhaa Akbar”.

Aishwarya Rai, the daughter-in-law of IIFA brand ambassador Amitbabh Bachchan, was honoured with a special award for an outstanding achievement in international cinema.

Director-turned actor Farhan Akhtar got the best male debutant of the year award for “Rock On!”, while Asin Thottumkal got best female debut award for action thriller “Ghajini”.

“Jodhaa Akbar” bagged the maximum technical awards at IIFA.

While ace designer Neeta Lulla walked away with the best costume design award for “Jodhaa Akbar”, best editing trophy went to Ballu Saluja and best art direction to Nitin Chandrakant Desai for the Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai starrer historical romance.

Resul Pokkutty, who made history by winning an Oscar for his work in “Slumdog Millionaire”, bagged the best editing trophy for Aamir Khan starrer “Ghajini”.

The best cinematography award went to Jason West for “Rock On!” and the best choreography award went to Farah Khan for the song “Desi girl” featuring Abhishek Bachchan, Priyanka Chopra and John Abraham in “Dostana”.

Among the winners in the technical category, Farah and Jason were not present at the event.