I am absolutely true to myself says Sonu Niigaam ...

Singer-composer Sonu Niigaam, who will be judging a show after six years, says he agreed to be part of Sony's music reality show "X-Factor" because he feels the concept is beyond the mediocracy of other such shows.
"It would be very, very big, dynamic and a very well thought show. For example, we have love stories in Bollywood for 60-70 years, but we still love to see a love story which is written differently. We discard love stories that are made half-heartedly.

"This show is beyond the mediocracy of (other) talent shows. India definitely needs a show that is as great as grand as 'X-Factor'," Sonu told IANS at the launch of the show here Wednesday.

"I am part of this show because it is as truthful as I believe I am, as rebellious as I feel I am, as contagious as I feel I am. I am pretty glad to be part of this show," he added.

Sonu, who hosted music reality " Sa Re Ga Ma Pa" in 1995, stayed away from judging reality shows after he judged the second season of singing talent show "Indian Idol" in 2006.

"X-Factor" is a talent show franchise that originated in Britain and has now come to India. Unlike other talent shows, "X-Factor" will not have any upper age limit for the contestants.

"You will get to see a huge variety of singers of all age starting from 16-year-olds to whatever," said Sonu.

With the band culture being in vogue, "X-Factor" will have a group singers segment along with traditional solo and duet singing sections.

Asked about his criteria while judging the contestants, he said: "X-factors are like X-rays. You can't see them, you will have to feel from heart. You will know it. If anyone could explain X-factor then it would have been an available commodity. Let's not go with any pre-conceived notions."

What is Sonu's X-factor?

"As a person, I am absolutely true to myself, absolutely original. I don't see myself like anyone else in the world. I have lot of inspirations in my life - from (Mohammad) Rafi saab to Michael Jackson to Lataji (Lata Mangeshkar) to Ashaji (Asha Bhosle). As a human being, I adore a lot of people, but I don't follow anyone and that is what I believe is my X-factor."

Sonu Ji put his tours and recordings on hold for his mother ....

Playback singer Sonu Niigaam's has put on hold his album, which he was supposed to compose with an American composer, because he wants to be with his mother Shobha who has been diagnosed with cancer.

"Unfortunately my mother was diagnosed with the fourth stage of cancer in December (last year). I realised that maybe this is god's wish that I should be in the country and not go to America until my mother is fine." Sonu told IANS in an interview.

Though the life threatening disease is in its fourth stage, Sonu is confident that she will recover. "Even being in the fourth stage, she is going to recover," he said.

Sonu Niigaam, Salim Merchant & Sanjay Leela Bhansali first time ...

The Indian version of the X Factor might be the concerned channel's biggest show but its budget unfortunately is not as big.

Rishi Kapoor, who was all geared up to judge the show, was turned down because the channel could not accommodate him into their budget after signing on Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Sonu Nigam. They have now signed on Salim Merchant.

A source tells us, "Rishi Kapoor was to judge the show but when the channel got the confirmations from Sonu Nigam and Sanjay Leela Bhansali, both of whom had quoted huge amounts as fee, the channel was in a fix.

They opted for Nigam as he is known to appeal to all sections of the audience and has not been on any reality shows for a long time now.

Bhansali was also signed on because he is yet to finalise his new film script, after the release of Guzaarish."

Sonu Niigaam looking up for X factor in singers on SONY TV ...

Sony Tv is coming up with a new realtiy show soon.. Sonu Niigaam will be judging the vocals of all the budding artistes.. For all the details of the show and to register for auditions log in to

 http://www.setindia.com/

Cheers!! Will come up with some more updates of the show soon....

Sonu Nigam (Let's Go for Glory) - ICC Cricket World Cup Opening Ceremony...

Sonu Niigaam opens the ICC World Cup 2011 ...

It was better than 1996 World Cup's windswept show at the Eden Gardens, but Thursday's World Cup 2011 opening ceremony at the Bangabandhu Stadium here tasted like overcooked biryani. 

It was good in parts, but for most part it was bland even though an estimated 25,000 fans inside the arena and twice the number outside, sampled the two-hour programme that resembled a big-budget community cultural show rather than the opening night of the biggest show in cricket.

It is a pity really, for it had all the trappings of a super show. There was simply no one to put it together into big, colourful bouquet.

The captains' rickshaw ride was supposed to be one of the highlights of the show, but it failed to enthuse the spectators as the skippers were almost hidden under the colourful hoods that ought to have been kept folded in the first place.

It was a colossal waste of star power as 14 captains of the world's top teams were made to stand like statues on the white, circular stage, but were given no other role to play in what essentially was their own function. They looked suitably bemused Sonu Niigaam sang "Let's go for glory", the spirit of cricket song, and vanished before you could shout "one more".

Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina kept her speech short and sweet before duly declaring the World Cup 2011 open. ICC president Sharad Pawar started in broken Bengali, but switched to English after only two lines.

An interesting laser beam show, with LED kites in participating teams' colours, was the most appreciated item of the night till Runa Laila enthralled with her foot-tapping number dam-a-dam mast kalandar" and Shankar, Ehsan and Loy got together to sing the immensely popular World Cup theme song "De ghuma ke".

The cultural section show, where Indian, Sri Lankan and Bangladeshi artistes performed owed its lustre to thousands of schoolchildren in colourful attire who danced all evening even as Dhaka's night sky was lit up from time to time by dazzling fireworks that formed an impressive backdrop to the show.

With opening ceremony tickets priced as high as Taka 1,000, 5,000 and 10,000, spectators, who had to queue up for hours to get into the stadium, had every reason to feel let down by a show that even Bryan Adams could not lift with his versatility....

Sonu Niigaam Live PAACET Festival 2011

The technical and cultural fest of P.A Aziz College of Engineering and technology (PAACET) will start off from March 9th at the college campus.Along with fashion show , Choreovideo , treasure hunt , Gaming , etc Bollywood singing sensation Sonu Nigam will be performing live at the festival.. 


                                                                   




 -:  VENUE & DATE :-


Technical Fest - PAACET Campus --                                                                       10th & 11th March 2011
Cultural Fest, Nishagandhi, Trivandrum --                                                                11th to 13th March 2011
All India Technical Exhibitionation, Chandrasekharan Nair                                        9th to 14th March 2011
Stadium, Trivandrum
Megashow at Chandrasekharan Nair Stadium , Trivandrum                                      13th March 2011




For More Info contact Coordinators : Abhiram.B.Nair- 7736144401 , Abhijith Mohan- 8129716816 , Jagath -9809269708

Sonu Niigaam to sing at World Cup opening ...

Ace singer Sonu Nigam is set to bring the World Cup opening ceremony at Dhaka alive with his performance. 

He has composed a song in English titled Lets Go For Glory that salutes the spirit of sportsmanship. It is certainly a huge honour for the top Indian singer. Sonu confirms, "It is true that I'm performing at the World Cup. I will sing when the teams are being introduced at the stadium.

My song will be a toast to the spirit of cricket. It has a universal theme of playing it fair in life and going for glory which I think will appeal to one and all. I feel very proud that I've been selected to perform at a global event, moreso because I'm going to represent India."



Cheers!!!

Sonu Niigaam Live in Concert in Mumbai at KGAF 2011...

The music lovers of Mumbai have another reason to rejoice.. The golden voice of Indian music industry, Sonu Niigaam will be performing at Kala Ghoda Arts Festival 2011 on 13th Feb, 2011..

Venue :-     Asiatic Society - Bottom of steps, Mumbai..
Time :-       7:30 PM to 8:30 PM




Don't miss it... Enjoy!!!

Sonu Niigaam & Vidhu Vinod Chopra are friends again ....

Be it friendship or animosity, nothing is permanent in Bollywood. 

Last week Sonu Niigaam Ji was seen recording a song at Purple Haze Studio Maare Re Maare for Pritam for Ferrari Ki Sawari. The film stars Sharman Joshi in the main lead and is said to release on Nov 11.

Interestingly, Sonu Ji and Vinod had had a huge fallout last year when copyright issues developed between music directors and producers.

Though Sonu and Vinod were very close once and had also worked on films like Parineeta, Munnabai MBBS and 3 Idiots, a rift had grown between them.

Sonu Ji recorded the song with Pritam. Later, when Vinod heard the song he paid Sonu Ji a compliment. That was all that was needed. Sonu met Vinod and hugged him, thus putting an end to a year-old fight.

Sonu Ji completes 20 glorious years in music industry ...

Sonu Niigaam took the audience to a different level when he started his live act by crooning the heart warming theme song from Titanic – My heart will go on. It was undoubtedly an awesome start. The magic in his voice like always, didn't fail to impress and like the original song visual, the stage lit up with aqua marine lights. The singer had a special reason to perform live as it's a special day for him as he completes 20 years in the industry. While performing, he came down the stage to touch Yash Chopra's feet as the veteran director is the one who gave Sonu a break.

It's also a special year for Yash Chopra as he completes 51 years in the industry. He said, "I think only movies. I have no other ambition." Sonu Niigaam also sang the song Ae Meri Johra Jabeen in honour of Yash Chopra.

Sonu Ji then went and greeted Farah Khan with a warm hug. He fondly recalls the time in Dubai where Farah paid his taxi fare. Dedicated to Farah, Sonu Ji croons 'Kiska Hai Yeh Tumko Intezar Main Hoon Na' and Farah joins in too. Both then went up to Anu Malik and the 3 of them jam up and complete the song. Then they all go up to David Dhawan and sing 'Jeene Ke Hai Char Din'.

Sonu Ji now goes up to Rekha and Compliments her. She shares her beauty tips. Sonu Ji asked her how do you feel that everyone loves you and she promptly replied, "But those ones you want to be loved by do not love you." Her reply stunned the audience. And everybody knew whom she was hinting towards. Rekha and Sonu Ji then break into the song 'Dil Cheez Kya Hai'. Once again, Rekha stuns the audience by singing so well.

After Rekha, it's SRK's turn. He says, "I owe a lot to singers. Thanks Sonu." Both sing the song Kal Ho Na Ho and SRK also does his trademark steps.

Sonu Ji then heads towards Shatrughan Sinha who goes down memory lane and gives some tips to young stars, "Prove yourself better than the best or prove yourself different than the rest - Shotgun's mantra to youngsters. They both sing Aaj Mere Yaar Ki Shaadi Hai.

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Best Music Composer: 
Sajid Wajid won the Best Music Composer Award for Dabangg. Speaking about it Sajid says, "This is our first Filmfare trophy and we are on top of the world. We knew from before that we were bagging all the awards this year. We have only one song to dedicate to our black lady: Tere Mast Mast Do Nain". Best Song Composer : Yet another award goes for Dabangg and this time the award goes to Lalit Pandit who composed the song Munni Badnam Hui... "It's taken me twenty yeas to win this award. AR Rahman always won it from under our nose. A lot of effort has gone into this. It has inspired me to work harder", said Lalit.

Best Lyrics: 


Gulzar won the Best Lyrics Award for the song 'Ibn-e-Batuta' (Ishqiya). The veteran lyricist says, "This award is special to me because it's a Filmfare Award". Regarding what inspired him while penning these lines Gulzar says, "Well, it's in my hormones. Dil abhi bhi baccha hai. So I didn't have to seek inspiration from anywhere else."

Most Promising Talent in Music: 


Sneha Khanwalkar for 'Love Sex aur Dhokha'

Best Playback Singer (Male): 


Rahat Fateh Ali Khan won Best Playback Singer (Male) for 'Dil Toh Bachcha Hai Ji' (Ishqiya)

Best Playback Singer (Female): 


Best Playback Singer (Female) Award was shared between Mamta Sharma for 'Munni Badnaam Hui' (Dabangg) and Sunidhi Chauhan for 'Sheila Ki Jawani' (Tees Maar Khan)

FILMFARE TECHNICAL AWARDS 
Best Choreography: 


Farah Khan for 'Sheila Ki Jawani' from Tees Maar Khan. Farah says, "Thank God that Udaan is not nominated in the Best Choreography section. I am sure I would have lost to them." She dedicated the award to her triplets. "Today was their sports day," she revealed.

Best Dialogue : 


Habib Faisal for Do Dooni Chaar

Best Screenplay: 


Anurag Kashyap and Vikramaditya Motwane for Udaan

Best Story: 


Anurag Kashyap and Vikramaditya Motwane for Udaan

Best Background Music: 


Amit Trivedi for Udaan. Amit says, "I am very happy that I won this award for Udaan. I didn't even knew that I was nominated. Then I realized I have not one but two – Udaan and Aisha. I am happy that I won it for Udaan as it is a small film and I wasn't even expecting an award for it. There were big competitors in the same league so I am glad."

Best Action Director: 


Vijayan Master for Dabbang

Best Cinematography: 


Mahendra Shetty for Udaan

Best Action Sequence: 


Vijayan Master for Dabbang

Best Editing Award: 


Namrata Rao for 'Love Sex aur Dhoka'.

Best Production Design Award : 


Mukund Gupta for 'Do Dooni Chaar'.

Best Sound Design Award: 


Best Sound Design Award is shared by Pritam Das for 'Love Sex Aur Dhoka' and Kunal Sharma for 'Udaan'.

Best Costume Design Award : The first Award of the night has been declared. Varsha and Shilpa have won the Best Costume Design Award for the film Do Dooni Chaar.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/bollywood/news-interviews/Live-Coverage-Filmfare-Awards-Udaan-takes-off/articleshow/7385103.cms