Jodhaa Akbar sweeps first Mirchi Music awards
MUMBAI: Composer A R Rahman and Ashutosh Gowariker's 2008 period feature film Jodhaa Akbar swept the honours at the first Mirchi Music Awards held in Mumbai on Saturday evening.
While Rahman collected three Mirchi ladies, prime among them being the 'song of the year' honour for Jashn-e-bahara, Javed Ali was adjudged best male vocalist for the same song.
Bela Shende too was feted for the classical Manmohana from Jodhaa Akbar. A R Rahman, who was not present at the event, struck gold with the 'album of the year' honour for Jaane Tu... and best music director for Kabhi Kabhi Aditi, both of which were collected on his behalf by director Abbas Tyrewala. The lifetime achievement award was presented to singer Lata Mangeshkar, with nephew Adinath Mangeshkar being present on the occasion on her behalf.
Although termed the 'mother of all music awards', the Mirchi Music Awards were focussed on Bollywood music. Interestingly, many newcomers and behind-the-scenes talents were honoured at the event - Dominique Cerejo and Benny Dayal shared space with veteran saxophonist and music arranger Manohari Singh, who was honoured on the occasion. The lineup of performances included Bipasha Basu, Shreya Ghoshal and Kunal Ganjawala, along with Neeraj and Tulsi Kumar.
Hosted in his own inimitable fashion by singer Shaan, the ceremony was punctuated by impromptu tunes set to a spontaneously written verse by veteran lyricist Javed Akhtar. Shaan got Anu Malik, Lalit, Jatin, Aadesh Srivastav, Sajid-Wajid to create a tune out of the lyrics written on the spot by Akhtar.
The celeb turnout at the ceremony was impressive, with actor Abhishek Bachchan leading the pack. Ashutosh Gowariker, T Series' Kishan Kumar , actor Sonu Sood, singer Alka Yagnik and others were present, along with the jury comprising chairman Javed Akhtar, Prasoon Joshi, Louis Banks, Shankar Mahadevan, Annu Malik, Lalit Pandit, Kavita Krishnamurthy, Sonu Nigam, Kailash Kher, Suresh Wadkar, Sadhana Sargam, Kunal Kohli, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra and Ramesh Sippy, who had sifted through the nominations- 400-500 songs as they shortlisted the nominees to the 17 categories.
One of the award categories was branded the Tata Indicom Talent Hunt for which aspiring singers from 23 locations in India had been invited to compete. Contest winner Prachi Shah from Ahmedabad performed at Saturday's awards ceremony.
And the winners are -
Song Of The Year
Jashn-e-Bahara | Jodhaa Akbar
Album Of The Year
A R Rahman | Jaane Tu...
Male Vocalist Of The Year
Javed Ali | Jashn-e-Bahara, Jodhaa Akbar
Female Vocalist Of The Year
Bela Shende | Manmohana, Jodhaa Akbar
Music Director Of The Year
A R Rahman | Jaane Tu...
Lyricist Of The Year
Javed Akhtar | Jashn-e-Bahara, Jodhaa Akbar
Upcoming Male Vocalist Of The Year
Benny Dayal | Kaise Mujhe, Ghajini
Upcoming Female Vocalist Of The Year
Dominique Cerejo | Ye Tumhari, Rock On!
Upcoming Music Director Of The Year
Dhruv Ghanekar | Drona
Upcoming Lyricist Of The Year
Ashok Mishra | Welcome to Sajjanpur
Technical Award For Song Mixing
LATE H Shridhar | Jodhaa Akbar
Technical Award For Programming and Arranging
TR Krishna Chetan | Jashn-e-Bahara, Jodhaa Akbar
Technical Award For Film Background Score
AR Rahman | Jodhaa Akbar
Tata Indicom Mirchi Listeners Choice Song Of The Year
Kabhi kabhi aditi | Jaane Tu...
Tata Indicom Mirchi Listeners Choice Album Of The Year
Jaane Tu... YA Jaane NA
Jury's Salute For Memorable Contribution To Music
Manohari Singh | Saxophonist
Lifetime Achievement Award
Lata Mangeshkar