At the end of the day, every Indian only wants to make their country proud. And their hard work, dedication, and determination get lauded by the government a night before Republic Day when the Padma Awards are announced. Congratulations are in order as the Padma winners of the year have been announced. From the field of entertainment, celebrated singer Sonu Nigam has been conferred with the Padma Shri. 

Sonu has made a special place in everyone’s heart by lending his voice to melodious tunes like Abhi Mujh Mein Kahin, Bole Chudiyan, Kal Ho Na Ho, Apne, Sandese Aate Hai, Do Pal, and the list is endless. Not just Hindi, Sonu has also carved a niche in Odia, Bengali, Gujarati, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Marathi, Nepali, Malyali and any other languages and it comes as no surprise that he is often referred to as The Lord of Chords, The Master of Melody and the Modern Rafi for having over 5000 songs to his name. 

Apart from Sonu, various other singers have been awarded the Padma Shri. Kailash Kher, Anuradha Paudwal, S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, KS Chitra, Adnan Sami, Kumar Sanu, Shankar Mahadevan, AR Rahman, Sivamani have also been recipients of this prestigious honour earlier. This year, legendary Bengali singer Sandhya Mukherjee and actor Victor Banerjee have also been awarded the Padma Awards. 

Coming back to Sonu, he began his singing career at the age of four when he joined his father on stage to sing Kya Hua Tera Wada. He then began accompanying his father and singing at weddings and parties. He kick-started his glorious Bollywood journey when he was 19. Sonu’s first released song was O Aasman Wale in 1993 and there was no turning back for the singer. He has been the voice behind Bollywood superstars like Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Govinda. Sunny Deol, Bobby Deol, Akshay Kumar, among others. 

Our heartiest congratulations to the superstar who has only brought melody into all our lives.