MUMBAI: The BAFA awards crowned The King‘s Speech as the big winner followed by the Facebook-founding drama that took three awards including best director award for David Fincher. Inception too won three trophies.

The King‘s Speech, that went into the awards as a hot favourite with 14 nominations beat The Social Network, ‘Black Swan, Inception and True Grit for the best picture award. The film also took awards for best British film, original screenplay, original music, supporting actor and supporting actress.

As expected, Colin Firth won best actor award for his portrayal of the reluctant monarch.

The Social Network took awards in the direction and editing categories as well as an award for Aaron Sorkin‘s adapted screenplay while Inception won awards for sound, production design and visual effects.

Natalie Portman won the best actress prize for psychosexual dance thriller Black Swan, its only win from 12 nominations.

Writer-director Chris Morris took the prize for best British debut for Four Lions.

Swedish thriller The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo bagged the best foreign language film award. Actor Tom Hardy won the Rising Star Award.

Most of the winners were selected by the votes of 6,000 Academy members.

Christopher Lee, who chilled generations as Count Dracula in a series of Hammer Studios horror classics, received a lifetime achievement award.