MUMBAI: Aiming to recognize and felicitate the best of Marathi music, the first edition of the Mirchi Music Awards Marathi honoured veteran musician Pandit Hridaynath Mangeshkar with the Lifetime Achievement Award and a special tribute by the artistes.
With music being the celebration of the day, there was a special music performance titled ‘Best of the Best’, where upcoming singers Hrishikesh Ranade, Madhura Datar, Madhura Kumbhar and Ajit Parab rendered the most memorable Marathi songs over the years.
Roop Kumar Rathod and Abhijit Pohankar gave their modern take on Pandit Hridaynath Mangeshkar’s evergreen renditions. The night also witnessed the musicians giving a musical ode to late Anil Mohile.
ENIL CEO Prashant Pandey said, “Music, fun and entertainment are what we provide our listeners with. Mirchi Music Awards Marathi powered by Indus Health Plus proved to be one of the biggest musical extravaganzas for the Marathi music industry. We have always believed in appreciating and encouraging talents and Mirchi Music Award Marathi is our way to thank everyone contributing to the Marathi music industry.”
A special award ‘Special Contribution to the Marathi Music’ was conferred to lavani queen Sulochana Chavan. She was felicitated with a performance by young dancers and a Lavani performance by Sonali Kulkarni, Bhargavee Chirmule and Priya Bapat.
Apart from that, the Best Album from the Golden Era award was bagged by Lakhachi Goshta, and the Jury Special Recognition trophy was bestowed to Enoch Daniel.
The awards felicitated winners in 12 categories along with two Listener’s Choice awards namely, Album of the Year and Song of the Year. The winners were selected by an eminent jury panel headed by Ashok Patki and the chairperson Suresh Wadkar.
The panel comprised of Aarati Ankalikar, Abhijit Pohankar, Bela Shende, Kaushal Inamdar, Soumitra, Sadhana Sargam, Dr Salil Kulkarni, Sandeep Khare, Shridhar Phadke, Sudhir Moghe, Vaishali Samant and Vijay Dayal.
Jury chairperson Suresh Wadkar said, “It truly feels good to know that Radio Mirchi has taken this initiative to award the Marathi music industry. It is a tremendous platform for us to come together and raise a toast to good music. As a jury chairperson we were very cautious and careful in picking the categories. I have personally ensured fairness to the talent and am absolutely unbiased to any talents.”
The ceremony was hosted by Jeetendra Joshi and Pushkar Shrotri, and witnessed many musical performances by duo Ajay-Atul, romantic singer Swapnil Bandodkar and queen of Marathi pop Vaishali Samant amongst others.
Radio Mirchi VP and cluster head rest of Maharashtra Nitin Singh said, “At Radio Mirchi we believe in promoting and appreciating good music. Though in the first year, the Mirchi Music Awards Marathi saw the cr?me-de-la-cr?me of the Marathi music industry come together and celebrate outstanding contribution to Marathi music. This presence and support has really contributed to our success. We also appreciate the support shown by our sponsors in making this awards night a great success.”