India celebrates two major nods at the International Emmy Awards 2026 as SonyLIV’s Real Kashmir Football Club and Vir Das: Fool Volume secure nominations. The football drama, inspired by Jammu and Kashmir’s first professional team, competes in Drama Series, while Das earns a historic third Emmy recognition for his deeply personal stand-up special born from a period of vocal loss.
India has earned two entries in the International Emmys Awards 2026. While SonyLIV’s Real Kashmir Football Club has been nominated for Best Drama series, standup comedian Vir Das has earned his historic third nomination for his Netflix comedy special Vir Das: Fool Volume.
Real Kashmir Football Club features Manav Kaul and Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub as the leads. The series is up against UK’s A Thousand Blows, France’s Carême and Argentina’s Mehem in the Best Drama Series category. Directed by Rajesh Mapuskar and Mahesh Mathai, Real Kashmir Football Club made its streaming debut on SonyLIV inDecember 2025, and is inspired by true events about the inaugural professional football team from the former state of Jammu and Kashmir.
In response to his nomination, Kaul expressed how much this particular series meant to him, stating, "Real Kashmir Football Club is one of my favourite works. I always thought this series deserves much, much more. I am so happy for Team RKFC and their hard work. I am super happy."
Das himself is up against Division Palermo: Season 2, Man vs Baby, and Old Dog, New Tricks in the Comedy category. It becomes his third International Emmy nomination. He was previously nominated in 2021, where he got nominated for the Netflix special comedy show, 'Vir Das: For India'. He was then nominated again for his next comedy show, 'Vir Das: Landing', that bagged him an award last year.
In a statement released on Friday, Das expressed how this nomination feels "surreal" as it was a tribute born out of vocal loss. "There's something wonderfully strange about being nominated for an International Emmy for a show called Fool Volume. This special came from a period when I literally lost my voice, so to see something that began in silence travel this far is pretty surreal,” he explained.
Das has been nominated for each of his three specials, all marking a unique milestone for him. He further stated, "I'm incredibly grateful to Netflix, my team and everyone who helped make this very strange, very personal show. Three nominations is something I never imagined when we made the first one, so I'm just going to enjoy the fact that the fool keeps getting louder."