MUMBAI: The nominations for the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) 2015 have been released, with Abhishek Berman's '2 States' bagging a total of nine nominations. Meanwhile Vishal Bhardwaj's 'Haider' has been nominated eight times, while Rajkumar Hirani's 'PK' has picked up six nominations.

On the music front, the top contenders include 'Ek Villain', '2 States, 'Haider' and 'Citylights', while 'Yaariyan', 'Kick', 'Highway' and 'Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania' have earned minimal nominations.  

The nomination for the 'Music Direction' category features names like Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy for the film '2 States', Mithoon for his tracks 'Banjara', 'Zaroorat' and 'Hamdard', Ankit Tiwari for 'Galliyan', Adnan Dhool and Rabbi Ahmed (Soch) for 'Awari' from the film 'Ek Villain', Vishal Bhardwaj for his compositions in 'Haider' and Mithoon, Yo Yo Honey Singh, Pritam, Arko Pravo Mukherjee for the film 'Yaariyan'.

In the 'Lyrics' category, Manoj Muntashir has been nominated for 'Galliyan' from 'Ek Villain', Rashmi Singh for 'Muskurane' from 'Citylights' and Amitabh Bhattacharya for 'Mast Magan' from the film '2 States'.

The 'Playback Singer Male' category has names like Ankit Tiwari for 'Galliyan' from 'Ek Villain', Arijit Singh for 'Muskurane' from 'Citylights', Mika Singh for 'Jumme Ki Raat' from the film 'Kick' and Sukhwinder Singh for 'Bismil' from 'Haider'.

Kanika Kapoor has been nominated for the song 'Baby Doll' from the movie 'Ragini MMMS 2' in the category of 'Playback Singer Female'. Her competition in the category includes Sultana and Jyoti Nooran for the track 'Patakha Guddi' from the film 'Highway' and Shreya Ghoshal for 'Samjhawan' from 'Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania'.

The IIFA Awards 2015 will take place at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from 5-7 June this year.