Hosted by Bollywood’s favorite playback singer, Sonu Nigam, and co-hosted by singer-songwriter Neha Bhasin and actor-singer Meiyang Chang, the awards night was a spectacular spectacle with multiple highlights.

Sonu Nigam’s tribute to Indian Nightingale, Late Lata Mangeshkarji, as well as 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.

Speaking to Bombay Times, Sonu said, “I am the only person of my generation who had the chance to sing with Lata ji, so I picked the songs I sang with her.” Shruti Pathak, who was also part of the special tribute performance to the legendary Lata Mangeshkar, sang ‘O Palan Hare’ (‘Lagaan’) and ‘Do Pal Ruka’ (‘Veer Zara’). “It was very moving to be 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’m like Dai Ma from the Mirchi Music Awards. I always make sure my full support is there with MMA the reward feature taki ek hamesha zinda rahe and hamesha chalta rahe. It’s a credible reward feature and it will always have my support. I always do my best to make things work for MMA.

Neha Bhasin, who also co-hosted the awards night earlier, spoke about her special connection to MMA. She said, “I think MMA is special because it’s the only awards dedicated solely to music of all genres. It’s a pleasure and an honor to be here because it’s my family.

Speaking about the highlights of the award function, Neha said, “The highlight of 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 gave us so much to learn. I was very proud of Neeti, Shakti and Mukti performing on their new song. I always thought they were a very talented trio. And another highlight of the awards night is I performed my Punjabi folk song It’s a big deal for me because it’s my independent music which I started in 2013 and it’s like I had come full circle. I stand for independent music and I do it the way I want to do it.

Priya Saraiya who along with Sachin-Jigar and Rekha Bhardwaj won ‘Re-Created Song of the Year’ for song Laadki (Angrezi Medium) said: ‘I am so happy and feel lucky to have had opportunities so incredible in Bollywood. .” She and Sachin accepted the award as Jigar and Rekha Bhardwaj were unable to make it to 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 those attending the awards.

The evening was marked by 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. Power couple Sugandha Mishra and Sanket Bhosale ensured that there was never a dull moment and that the audience got their dose of humour.

Shershaah won most awards. Composed and written by Tanishk Bagchi and sung by Jubin Nautiyal and Asees Kaur, Raataan Lambiyan of Shershaah, won three awards including Song of the Year, Music Composer of the Year and Lyricist of the Year. And album of the year was again won by Shershaah.

Singer Javed Ali Srivalli’s melodious romantic number from Pushpa – The Rise – Part 1 (Hindi) won him the Male Vocalist of the Year award. The inimitable Shreya Ghoshal won Female Vocalist of the Year for Arangi Re’s Chaka Chak.

Among the special accolades, Life Time Achievement Award was given 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.

The Listener’s Album of the Year went to Arangi Re, while Chaka Chak from the same film won the Listener’s Song of the Year and the Independent Music category’s Song of the Year ( Indes) from the listener went to Lut Gaye.

Arijit Singh, who made his debut as a music composer, won the Upcoming Music Composer of the Year award for Pagglait’s Thode Kam Ajnabi. Ved Sharma won Upcoming Male Vocalist of the Year for Malang (Title Track) and Sharvi Yadav won Upcoming Vocalist of the Year for Maari Chhalangein (Skater Girl) and Peer Zahoor won Upcoming Lyricist of the Year for Rubaru (Ginny Weds Sunny).

Bheeni Bheeni Si (male version) by Mera Fauji Calling sung by Sonu Nigam, composed by Vijay Verma and written by Rajesh Manthan won Raag-Inspired Song of the Year.

In the Special Jury Awards section, Hum Dono won Golden Era Album of the Year – 1961 and UK Dubey won 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 recreated song of the year.

Catch Malabar Gold & Diamonds presents the Smule Mirchi Music Awards on March 27 at 9 p.m. on Colors