MUMBAI: The nominations for 61st Filmfare awards were announced on the morning of 13 January, and the jury has picked the best artists from several categories to compete against each other for a 'Black Lady'. Filmfare celebrates the best talents from the industry and acknowledges their efforts since its inception in 1953. The Clares was the original name of the award ceremony, named after The Times of India critic Clare Mendonca. The first awards function was held on 21 March 1954 at the Metro Theatre of Mumbai.

The categories include acting, direction, screenplay and music. Here’s a summary of nominees for the various music categories dominated by debutant Vikramjit Singh’s ‘Roy’, which leads the nominations in the three categories with four nominations.

Best Music 

Ankit Tiwari, Amaal Mallik and Meet Bros Anjjan recently won ‘Best Music’ at the Screen Awards for the music for ‘Roy’. The trio now finds itself competing against Anupam Roy for ‘Piku’, Pritam for ‘Dilwale’, Sanjay Leela Bhansali for ‘Bajirao Mastani’ and Shankar Ehsaan Loy for the multi-starrer ‘Dil Dhadakne Do’ for the same category’. Adding to the list is the winner of 10 Filmfare awards for the Best Music category- AR Rahman. The ‘Mozart of Madras’ has been nominated for his music in ‘Tamasha’. 

Best Male Playback Singer 

Ankit Tiwari’s vocals for the track ‘Tu Hai Ki Nahi’ from Roy earns him his fifth-time nomination for the Filmfare Awards (won twice). Papon, who won the ‘Best Male Playback’ at the Screen awards, would expect a double delight after being nominated for the same category at the Filmfare Awards. Other nominations include Atif Aslam for ‘Jeena Jeena’ from ‘Badlapur’, Vishal Dadlani for ‘Gulaabo’ from ‘Shaandaar’. Arijit Singh has been nominated twice, this year, in the category for ‘Gerua’ from ‘Dilwale’ and ‘Sooraj Dooba Hai’ from Roy. 

Best Female Playback Singer 

Seven-time winner of the Filmfare Awards, Alka Yagnik would finally want to break the tie in the number of trophies, currently held with Asha Bhosle, if her vocals for ‘Agar Tum Saath Ho’ from ‘Tamasha’ gets her another trophy at the ceremony. Yagnik already holds the record for most nominations by female playback singer with 36.

A winner of ‘Best Female Playback Singer’ at the Screen Awards, Monali Thakur, continues to impress the critics and jury all over with her latest nomination at Filmfare under the same category. Joining Thakur and Yagnik is Anusha Mani for ‘Gulabo’ from Shaandaar. Four-time winner Shreya Ghoshal has been nominated for her vocals in ‘Deewani Mastani’ from ‘Bajirao Mastani’. Priya Saraiya gets her first Filmfare nomination, thanks to the track ‘Sunn Sathiya’ from ‘ABCD 2’.Palak Mucchal joins Saraiya as another first-time nominee at the Filmfare.

Hosted by Shah Rukh Khan and Kapil Sharma, the 61st Britannia Filmfare Awards will be a ticketed event, and fans will have to spend from Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 40,000 in order to attend the most iconic film award ceremony of the country. Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s ‘Bajirao Mastani’ leads the overall nominations this year with eight- including Best Film and Best Direction.