Sonu Nigam unhappy with Padma Awards 2025, says Kishore Kumar, Alka Yagnik and Shreya Ghoshal haven't received it yet

Sonu Nigam

On the eve of Republic Day, Padma Awards 2025, the highest civilian honour were conferred to 139 people, including seven Padma Vibhushan, 19 Padma Bhushan and 113 Padma Shri.

National award winning singer Sonu Nigam has now questioned the jury for ignoring many renowned artists which include legendary singers Mohammed Rafi, Kishore Kumar, Alka Yagnik, Shreya Ghoshal and Sunidhi Chauhan.

This year, Sharda Sinha, popularly known as Swar Kokila of Bihar will be honoured with Padma Vibhushan posthumously, while singer Arijit Singh will receive Padma Shri.

Sonu Nigam released a video on his Instagram and said many deserving singers like Raif, Kishore Kumar, Shreya have been devoid of their dues.

In the video, Sonu says: "Do aise singers hai jinhone poore duniya ke singers ko inspire kiya hai. Ek ko toh humne Padma Shri pe hi simtaa diya hai, woh hai Mohammed Rafi sahab. Aur ek hai jinko Padma Shri bhi naseeb nahi hua hai, Kishore Kumar ji. Posthumously award mil rahe hai na. (There are two legendary singers who have inspired singers all over the world. We have limited one of them with the Padma Shri award, that's Mohammad Rafi. The other one didn’t even get a Padma Shri, Kishore Kumar. Awards are being given posthumously, right)?"

"Aur jo hai bhi unme se Alka Yagnik ji, itna lamba aur kamaal ka career raha hai, unhe kuch nahi mila abhi tak. Shreya Ghoshal, bahut samay se apni kala ka loha manwa rahi hai. Unko bhi milna chahiye. Sunidhi Chauhan, unhone bhi ek poore generation ko inspire kiya hai apni alag si awaaz se. Unhe bhi kuch nahi mila abhi tak (Among the current line of singers, Alka Yagnik had such a long and phenomenal career, she hasn’t received anything yet. Shreya Ghoshal has been proving her brilliance for a long time. She should also be honoured. Sunidhi Chauhan has inspired an entire generation with her unique voice. She hasn’t received anything yet)."

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At the end of the video, Sonu Nigam asked his fans and followers to name people who are yet to be honoured with Padma awards.

Sonu wrote in the caption: "India and its pending Padma Awardees." Reacting to the post, Shraddha Pandit commented, "Gospel truth spoken @sonunigamofficial."

Sonu Nigam was conferred with the Padma Shri by former President Ram Nath Kovind in 2022. But he had expressed his disappointment back then by saying that it was too late for him get Padma Shri.
Sonu Nigam had then revealed that he would respond with ‘Don’t you think it is too late in the day to give me Padma Shri?’"

Sonu Nigam has sung over 10,000 songs, mainly in Hindi but he has also lent his voice in Kannada, Odia, Bengali, Gujarati, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Nepali, Malayalam, Kannada, Bhojpuri, and other Indian languages.