Thousands of music enthusiasts gathered at the Nehru Indoor Stadium recently to get a glimpse of their favourite music directors and singers at the Vijay Music Awards.
The first edition of the award function saw the entire music fraternity at the venue, receiving awards under various categories. The enthusiasm and fan frenzy doubled when ‘Ulaga Nayagan’ Kamal Haasan walked in along with actor Gauthami and daughter Akshara.
The first award to be given away at the ceremony was the Isai Aasangal Award. Three legends — PB Sreenivas, LR Easwari and Vani Jairam — received this award and expressed their gratitude to Vijay TV. Veteran music director MS Viswanathan was presented the Isai Chakravarthi Award for his contribution to the music industry. Playback singer KJ Yesudas went home with the Evergreen Voice Award. Kamal Haasan received an award for Neela Vaanam from Manmadhan Ambu, which was nominated the best song sung by an actor. Presenting the award to him was veteran artiste Yesudas, who praised the actor for his excellent singing skills and fondly remembered his other hits like Inji Idu Palaga.
While Vijay Prakash won the Best Male Singer Award for Hosanna from Vinnaithandi Varuvaya, Shreya Goshal and Andrea Jeremiah together shared the Best Female Singer Award. It was the song Mannipaya that earned Shreya the award, while Andrea was awarded for her song Maalai Neram from Aayirathil Oruvan. “The song was not a part of the film. Yet, I’m happy that people liked it,” she said.
The Popular Song of the Year 2010 Award went to Kilimanjaro from the film Enthiran. Singer Karthik received the Popular Male Singer 2010 Award for Usurae Poguthae from the film Raavanan. The song, Kadhal vandhale from Singam won the Popular Song of Masses Award, and the Popular Album of the Year 2010 Award was given to AR Rahman for Vinnaithandi Varuvaya. The film also fetched him the Best Music Director Award. Rahman was also given the Global Indian Award for his ‘outstanding contribution to the music industry’.
The Popular Duet of the year 2010 Award went to Adada mazhada from the film Paiyaa, composed by Yuvan Shankar Raja. The Popular Melody of the year 2010 Award was given to the song from the same film. Yuvan won yet another award for En Kadhal solla, also from Paiyya. The Lyricist with the Most Number of Hits 2010 Award was bagged by Na Muthukumar and the Best Sound Mixing 2010 Award was won by KJ Singh, Deepak PA and Resul Pookutty for Enthiran.
Kannan won the Best Debut Music Director Award for Thamizh Padam. Speaking on the occasion, he thanked his director Amudhan for giving him the opportunity.
The award for the best folk song went to Jilla Vittu from the film Eesan. It was received by music director James Vasanthan. “I composed this song in 2009. When Sasikumar listened to it, he told me not to give it to anyone and said that he would use it for his film. He understood the value of the song,” said James.
The evening also saw singer Hariharan enthralling the audience with his hit numbers. Earlier, five young singers — Shwetha Mohan, Haricharan, Naresh Iyer, Vijay Yesudas and Suchithra — pepped up the evening by singing the evergreen hits of MS Vishwanathan, including Rock and Roll, Vishwanathan Velai Vendum, Pachaikili and Rukmaniyae.
Also, L Subramaniyam, Kavitha Krishnamurthy and their son Ambi Subramaniyam rendered a special fusion. With Ranjith Barrot on the drums, Stephen Devassy on the piano and Azard Khan on the sitar, the evening was a melodic one.
Catch the award ceremony on Vijay TV on May 20 and 21 at 7pm.