https://www.indiantelevision.com/headlines/y2k5/aug/aug260.htm Congrats jal on winning the best pop group at sangeet awards in california. Well done Atif also. Best new singer. Pakistan is proud of you guys. The changing winds of Indo-Pak ties seemed to have swept Indian music, with Pakistani singer Faakhir bagging two awards at the second Sangeet Awards held in Oakland on Saturday. The music of the romance across borders Veer Zaara also fetched the best lyricist award for Javed Akhtar and best male singer for Roop Kumar Rathod. Akhtar got the coveted best lyricist award beating Sameer who had four nominations for aankhein band karke from Aitraz, dhoom machale from Dhoom and sun zara from Lucky. Glittering stars The glittering function at the Oakland arena attended by leading Bollywood actors including Shahrukh Khan, Salman Khan, Rani Mukherjee, Shilpa and Shamita Shetty. Sunidhi Chauhan won the best female singer award for this year's chart-topper dhoom machale dhoom while Rathod went away with the best male voice for Tere Liye from Veer Zaara. He beat Sonu Nigam, nominated for Sun Zara from Lucky and Chup Chup ke from Bunty and Babli besides Udit Narayan for Aankhein Band Karke from Aitraz. Rathod, who had failed to bag nominations for the Filmfare and Screen awards, said the award was a sweet surprise for him. "The song is special to me because the film had a very special group, Shahrukh and the help of late Madan Mohan's compositions". High-octane performances The highlight of the show was the performance by the two King Khans of Bollywood- Shahrukh and Salman, appearing for the first time on the same stage in the US. Their high-octane performance and dance to the tunes of evergreen hits left the strong Indian audience spellbound and wanting more. The show started with a performance from Rani Mukherjee. She made a brief appearance at the show to dance to the tunes of many evergreen numbers like diya jale, jaan jale, hoto main aisi baat and morni baaga main. Comperes Shaan and Anusha gelled with the mood of the audience who seemed to want more of Bollywood. Not to disappoint them, Salman Khan kept his date with fans of the golden gate and danced to the tunes of his recent hits No entry and Just Chill, besides to that of his forthcoming releases. Shankar Mahadevan along with the dance troupe of Shiamak Davar joined in the audience mood and invited many NRI girls at the venue to dance with him on the tunes of Kajrare Kajrare. The foot tapping dhoom machale maintained its 'dhoom' at the music awards with music director Preetam getting the best film album award and best song award for it. Closer ties The jury for the awards comprised Ramesh Sippy, Suresh Wadkar, Kavita Krishnamurthy, Shankar Mahadevan, Leslie Lewis, Ken Ghosh, Anubhav Sinha, Shiamak Davar and Saapna Mukherji. Saapna Mukherjee got the best female singer award in the category while Udit Narayan won in the male category. The best pop group award went to Jal for the album Aadat. (PTi) Another Pakistani whose bagged an award at the function was Atif Aslam for best new voice for Woh Lamhe from the film Zeher. In the Indi-Pop nominations category, Pakistani singer Faakhir got the best male singer award for Maahi Ve from his album Mantra which also bagged the best song prize. The best female singer award went to Shibani Kashyap for Kya Nazakat Hain from her album Nazakat. Kashyap had strong contenders in Shreya Ghoshal, who was nominated for two songs Pyar Ke Baaten and Yeh Kyan Huan from Tera Mera Pyar and Sunidhi Chauhan, who was nominated for Dhak Dhak from the movie Tera Mera Pyar. The fact that she had even composed her own songs worked to her advantage and helped her get the award, she said. In the critics' award section, the best sound recordist award went to Tanay for the film Black and best lyricist went to Gulzaar for Kajrare Kajrare from Bunty Aur Babli. The best film song in the category went to the late Madan Mohan for Tere Liye from Veer Zaara, best music director award to A R Rahman for Swades.
