Sangeeta Tanwar
Media

Radio Mirchi to recognise Hindi film music

For the music industry in India, Radio Mirchi Music Awards will be the first of its kind recognising Bollywood music

Popular Hindi film music is the staple entertainer for millions of music lovers across all radio stations. Surprisingly, while countless film awards recognise Bollywood, there are hardly any dedicated platforms acknowledging the contributions of the music makers of the Hindi film industry.

To fill this glaring void, Radio Mirchi has initiated Hindi film industry's first music awards. Tata Indicom Mirchi Music Awards – Music Ko Mirchi Ka Salaam is an effort to honour the faces behind the hit Hindi numbers.

Radio Mirchi to recognise Hindi film music
Talking to afaqs!, Prashant Panday, chief executive officer, Entertainment Network India (ENIL), says, “Music undoubtedly is a very important part of our lives. We have a large number of popular awards honouring Bollywood actors and the Hindi film industry but such is not the case with the film music fraternity.

“These awards will recognise the efforts of truly outstanding people and their contributions towards music.” He adds, “The idea was with us for years but now, with the radio industry becoming bigger, the time is right to give shape to the initiative. The music awards will be a great brand building exercise for us.”

The awards have 17 different categories and will consider the music produced in the year 2008. There will be various categories such as Best Male and Female Playback Singers, Best Composer, Best Lyricist and Most Popular Song. Special awards will also recognise the contributions of technicians and lesser known hands contributing to the successful and popular numbers.

A jury headed by lyricist Javed Akhtar will select the winners. The other prominent names on jury include Bollywood heavyweights such as Prasoon Joshi, Anu Malik, Kailash Kher, Kavita Krishnamurthy, Kunal Kohli, Lalit Pandit, Louis Banks, Ramesh Sippy, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, Shankar Mahadevan, Sadhana Sargam, Suresh Wadkar and Sonu Nigam.

To seek public participation and arouse interest, out of the 17 awards, two awards will be decided purely on the basis of listeners' choice. Panday emphasises that the jury will reign supreme in deciding the winners and public participation has been limited to ensure fairness and transparency of the awards. The effort is to minimise the differences cropping up amongst the industry experts over uninformed choices made through public participation and voting.

Moreover, the entire award function, including nominations and selection of works, is being validated by Ernst & Young.

When it’s about recognising good music – why restrict the initiative to Hindi film music? Panday explains, “It's just a beginning. The first edition of the awards will only consider Hindi film music and in subsequent years, Radio Mirchi will make the required efforts to increase the scope of the awards beyond Bollywood.”

The winners of the Radio Mirchi Music Awards will be felicitated at an award function to be held towards the end of March.

Have news to share? Write to us atnewsteam@afaqs.com