The who’s-who of the Indian music industry came together to celebrate music like never before on March 8, 2022. The 14th edition of the Malabar Gold & Diamonds presents Smule Mirchi Music Awards, was an evening of glamour, power-packed performances and so much more, as it lived up to its tagline ‘Har Entertainment Mein Mirchi Hai’.
Hosted by Bollywood’s favourite playback singer Sonu Nigam and co-hosted by the singer-songwriter Neha Bhasin and singer-actor Meiyang Chang the awards night was a spectacular show with multiple highlights.

Sonu Nigam’s tribute to India’s Nightingale, Late Lata Mangeshkarji, along with a special tribute to Disco King, Bappi Lahiri, by Meet Bros with Bappi Da’s grandson, Swastik Bansal aka Rego was the highlight of the evening. Sonu also paid a touching tribute to Shravan Rathod accompanied by his sons Sanjeev and Darshan Rathod.
Talking to Bombay Times, Sonu said, “I am the only person in my generation, who actually had the good fortune of singing with Lata ji, so I chose the songs I sang with her.” Shruti Pathak who was also a part of the special tribute performance for the legendary Lata Mangeshkar sang ‘O Palan Hare’ (‘Lagaan’) and ‘Do Pal Ruka’ (‘Veer Zara’). “It was very emotional to be a part of this tribute to her. For every singer Lata Ji was an institution,” she said.

Sonu shared his love for MMA and said, “I am like the Dai Ma of Mirchi Music Awards. I always make sure that all my support is there with MMA, taki ek award function hamesha zinda rahe, and hamesha chalta rahe. It is a credible award function and it will always have my support. I always go out of my way to make things work for MMA.”

Neha Bhasin who has co-hosted the awards night earlier too, spoke about her special connection to the MMA. She said, “I think MMA is special because they are the only awards dedicated just to music of all genres. It is a pleasure and honour to be here as it is my family.”

Talking about the highlights of the award function, Neha said, “The highlight this year was the tribute to Lata Ji, the award for the legacy of Bappi Da – the most important gems and legends of the music industry who have given us so much to learn from. I was very proud of Neeti, Shakti and Mukti doing their performance on their new song. I always felt that they are a very talented trio. And another highlight of the awards night is that I performed my Punjabi folk song. It is a big deal for me because this is my independent music that I had started out in 2013 and it is like I have come full circle. I have been fighting for independent music and doing it the way I want to do it.”

Priya Saraiya who along with Sachin-Jigar and Rekha Bhardwaj, won the 'Recreated song of the year' for the song Laadki (Angrezi Medium) said, "I am so happy and I feel lucky that I have been getting such amazing opportunities in Bollywood.” She and Sachin accepted the award as Jigar and Rekha Bhardwaj couldn’t make it for the awards night.

Bollywood celebrities Taapsee Pannu, Vidya Balan, Karishma Kapoor, Pratik Gandhi, Ila Arun, Sadhana Sargam, Ramesh Sippy, Papon, Anand Ji Bhai, Guneet Monga and Umesh Bist were among the one who were present at the awards.

The evening boasted of a spectacular show with performances by Neha Bhasin, Lucky Ali, Neha Kakkar, Meet Bros, Jonita Gandhi, Shruti Pathak, Sneha Shankar, Antara Mitra, Zara Khan, Akasa Singh, Shahid Mallya, and the sister duo of Sukriti and Prakriti Kakkar, Lisa Mishra and the Mohan sisters - Neeti, Shakti and Yukti. The power comedy couple Sugandha Mishra and Sanket Bhosale made sure that there was never a dull moment and the audiences got their dose of humor.

Shershaah swept most awards. Composed and written by Tanishk Bagchi and sung by Jubin Nautiyal and Asees Kaur, Raataan Lambiyan from Shershaah, won three awards including the Song Of The Year, Music Composer Of The Year and Lyricist Of The Year. And The Album Of The Year was bagged by Shershaah once again.

Singer Javed Ali’s melodius romantic number Srivalli from Pushpa - The Rise - Part 1 (Hindi) won him the Male Vocalist of the year award. The inimitable Shreya Ghoshal bagged the Female Vocalist of the year for Chaka Chak from Atrangi Re.

Among the special awards, The Life Time Achievement Award went to Suman Kalyanpur, Royal Stag Live It Large to Taapsee Pannu, Face Of Bollywood Hits to Karisma Kapoor and Mirchi Trendsetter Of The Year to Yohani.

Listener's Choice Album of the year went to Atrangi Re, while Chaka Chak from the same film won the Listener's Choice Song of the year and Listener's Choice Independent Music Category (Indies) Song of the year went to Lut Gaye.

Arijit Singh who debuted as music composer won the Upcoming Music composer of the year for Thode Kam Ajnabi from Pagglait . Ved Sharma won the Upcoming Male Vocalist of the year for the Malang (Title Track) and Sharvi Yadav won the Upcoming Female Vocalist of the year for Maari Chhalangein (Skater Girl ) and Peer Zahoor won the Upcoming Lyricist of the year for Rubaru (Ginny Weds Sunny).

Bheeni Bheeni Si (Male Version) from Mera Fauji Calling sung by Sonu Nigam, composed by Vijay Verma and penned by Rajesh Manthan won the Raag-Inspired Song of the Year.

In the special jury award section, Hum Dono won the Golden Era Album of the year- 1961 and UK Dubey won for Outstanding Contribution.

AP Dhillon, Gurinder Gill and Shinda Kahlon won the Independent Music Category (Indies) for Brown Munde.

The song Laadki (Angrezi Medium) by Rekha Bhardwaj, Priya Saraiya and Sachin-Jigar won the Recreated song of the year.



Catch Malabar Gold & Diamonds presents Smule Mirchi Music Awards on 27th March at 9 pm on Colors