The Filmfare Best Male Playback Singer Award is given by Indian film magazine ''
Filmfare
''Filmfare'' is an Indian English language, English-language fortnightly magazine published by Worldwide Media. Acknowledged as one of Indian most popular entertainment magazines, it publishes pieces involving news, interviews, photos, videos, r ...
'' as a part of its annual
Filmfare Awards
The Filmfare Awards are annual awards that honour artistic and technical excellence in the Hindi-language film industry of India.Al The Filmfare ceremony is one of the most famous film events in India. The awards were first introduced by th ...
for
Hindi film
Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...
s, to recognise a male
playback singer
A playback singer, also known as a ghost singer, is a singer whose singing is pre-recorded for use in films. Playback singers record songs for soundtracks, and actors or actresses lip-sync the songs for cameras; the actual singer does not app ...
who has delivered an outstanding performance in a film song.
Although the Filmfare Awards started in 1954, awards for the best playback singer category started in 1959. From inception of the category through 1967, both the female and male singers used to compete for a single award, after which separate categories were created for
female
Female (Venus symbol, symbol: ♀) is the sex of an organism that produces the large non-motile ovum, ova (egg cells), the type of gamete (sex cell) that fuses with the Sperm, male gamete during sexual reproduction.
A female has larger gamet ...
and male singers respectively.
Superlatives
*
Kishore Kumar
Kishore Kumar (born as Abhas Kumar Ganguly (); 4 August 1929 – 13 October 1987) was an Indian playback singer and actor. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest, most influential and dynamic singers in the history of Indian music.
He ...
won the award the maximum number of times 8 in this category, whereas
Mohammad Rafi
Mohammed Rafi (24 December 1924 – 31 July 1980) was an Indian playback singer and musician. He is considered to have been one of the greatest and most influential singers of the Indian subcontinent. Rafi was notable for his versatility and ...
&
Arijit Singh won it 6 times each.
Kumar Sanu
Kedarnath Bhattacharya (born 20 October 1957), better known as Kumar Sanu, is an Indian playback singer. He is known as the King of Melody in Bollywood. He is famous for singing thousands of Bollywood Hindi songs. Apart from Hindi, he has al ...
&
Udit Narayan Udit is an Indian masculine given name that may refer to:
*Udit Narayan, Bollywood playback singer
*Udit Narayan (politician) (born 1960), Fijian politician of Indian descent
*Udit Narayan Singh (1770–1835), Indian monarch
*Udit Patel (born 1984 ...
have won the award 5 times each.
Mukesh Mukesh is an epithet for the Hindu god Shiva, and literally means "conqueror of the Muka demon". It also means god of 3 worlds, heaven, hell & earth, which in turn represents Hindu god Shiva. It is commonly used as a male given name in India. Peopl ...
has won this award four times.
Mahendra Kapoor has won it thrice.
*
Mohammad Rafi
Mohammed Rafi (24 December 1924 – 31 July 1980) was an Indian playback singer and musician. He is considered to have been one of the greatest and most influential singers of the Indian subcontinent. Rafi was notable for his versatility and ...
dominated the 60's with 5 wins.
Kishore Kumar
Kishore Kumar (born as Abhas Kumar Ganguly (); 4 August 1929 – 13 October 1987) was an Indian playback singer and actor. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest, most influential and dynamic singers in the history of Indian music.
He ...
,
Mukesh Mukesh is an epithet for the Hindu god Shiva, and literally means "conqueror of the Muka demon". It also means god of 3 worlds, heaven, hell & earth, which in turn represents Hindu god Shiva. It is commonly used as a male given name in India. Peopl ...
had the highest win during 70's winning the award 3 times each. Kishore Kumar continued domination during 80's with 5 wins. Kumar Sanu with most 5 consecutive wins from 1990 to 1995. Udit Narayan,
Sonu Nigam
Sonu Nigam (born 30 July 1973) is an Indian singer, music director and actor. He has been described in the media as one of the most popular and successful playback singers of Hindi Cinema and Kannada Cinema. He has been honoured by the Govern ...
and
Shaan sharing 2 awards among each other in 2000s.
Arijit Singh dominated 2010's with 5 wins.
*
Kishore Kumar
Kishore Kumar (born as Abhas Kumar Ganguly (); 4 August 1929 – 13 October 1987) was an Indian playback singer and actor. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest, most influential and dynamic singers in the history of Indian music.
He ...
has the most nominations (28), followed by
Mohammad Rafi
Mohammed Rafi (24 December 1924 – 31 July 1980) was an Indian playback singer and musician. He is considered to have been one of the greatest and most influential singers of the Indian subcontinent. Rafi was notable for his versatility and ...
(21) and
Udit Narayan Udit is an Indian masculine given name that may refer to:
*Udit Narayan, Bollywood playback singer
*Udit Narayan (politician) (born 1960), Fijian politician of Indian descent
*Udit Narayan Singh (1770–1835), Indian monarch
*Udit Patel (born 1984 ...
(20).
Arijit Singh (18),
Sonu Nigam
Sonu Nigam (born 30 July 1973) is an Indian singer, music director and actor. He has been described in the media as one of the most popular and successful playback singers of Hindi Cinema and Kannada Cinema. He has been honoured by the Govern ...
(17),
Mukesh Mukesh is an epithet for the Hindu god Shiva, and literally means "conqueror of the Muka demon". It also means god of 3 worlds, heaven, hell & earth, which in turn represents Hindu god Shiva. It is commonly used as a male given name in India. Peopl ...
(14) &
Kumar Sanu
Kedarnath Bhattacharya (born 20 October 1957), better known as Kumar Sanu, is an Indian playback singer. He is known as the King of Melody in Bollywood. He is famous for singing thousands of Bollywood Hindi songs. Apart from Hindi, he has al ...
(14) among others.
*
Udit Narayan Udit is an Indian masculine given name that may refer to:
*Udit Narayan, Bollywood playback singer
*Udit Narayan (politician) (born 1960), Fijian politician of Indian descent
*Udit Narayan Singh (1770–1835), Indian monarch
*Udit Patel (born 1984 ...
holds a unique record of receiving nominations in this category in 3 different decades (1980s, 1990s and 2000s) and getting award in all 3 different decades also the only singer of different origin (
Nepal
Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne,
सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...
i) to win 5 times till date.
Arijit Singh (2016-2020) &
Kumar Sanu
Kedarnath Bhattacharya (born 20 October 1957), better known as Kumar Sanu, is an Indian playback singer. He is known as the King of Melody in Bollywood. He is famous for singing thousands of Bollywood Hindi songs. Apart from Hindi, he has al ...
(1991-1995) holds the record for most consecutive wins, five times in a row. Coincidentally, the songs for which Kumar Sanu won the awards, their music also won the
Filmfare Award for Best Music Director
The Filmfare Best Music Album Award is given by the '' Filmfare'' magazine as part of its annual Filmfare Awards for Hindi films, to the best composer/arranger of a soundtrack. This category was first presented in 1954. Naushad Ali was the fir ...
.
Kishore Kumar
Kishore Kumar (born as Abhas Kumar Ganguly (); 4 August 1929 – 13 October 1987) was an Indian playback singer and actor. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest, most influential and dynamic singers in the history of Indian music.
He ...
won the award four times in a row from 1983 to 1986.
*
Mukesh Mukesh is an epithet for the Hindu god Shiva, and literally means "conqueror of the Muka demon". It also means god of 3 worlds, heaven, hell & earth, which in turn represents Hindu god Shiva. It is commonly used as a male given name in India. Peopl ...
is the only playback singer who won this award posthumously (1977).
*
Himesh Reshammiya
Himesh Reshammiya (born 23 July 1973) is an Indian playback singer, music director, songwriter, film & music producer and actor in Hindi cinema. He started his career as music director in the film '' Pyaar Kiya To Darna Kya'' in 1998 and made ...
became the first music director to win this award in 2006.
* Two singers have achieved the feat of receiving all the nominations of this category in a particular year:
Mohammed Rafi
Mohammed Rafi (24 December 1924 – 31 July 1980) was an Indian playback singer and musician. He is considered to have been one of the greatest and most influential singers of the Indian subcontinent. Rafi was notable for his versatility and ...
was the single nominee in 1969, having all the three nominations to his credit, while
Kishore Kumar
Kishore Kumar (born as Abhas Kumar Ganguly (); 4 August 1929 – 13 October 1987) was an Indian playback singer and actor. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest, most influential and dynamic singers in the history of Indian music.
He ...
was the single nominee in 1985, having all the four nominations to his credit. Incidentally, Kishore Kumar's all nominated songs were from a single movie, ''
Sharaabi
''Sharaabi'' ( en, Drunkard, italic=yes) is a 1984 Indian Hindi comedy drama film produced and directed by Prakash Mehra. This was Mehra's sixth film with Amitabh Bachchan.
Sharaabi stars Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Prada in lead roles along wi ...
''.
Most wins
Most consecutive wins
Multiple nominees
Winners and nominees
1950s
Note: The category for Best Playback Singer was established in 1959, and until 1967 both male and female singers used to compete for a single award.
1960s
1970s
1980s
1990s
2000s
2010s
2020s
See also
*
Filmfare Award for Best Female Playback Singer
The Filmfare Best Female Playback Award is given by '' Filmfare'' as part of its annual Filmfare Awards for Hindi films, to recognise a female playback singer who has delivered an outstanding performance in a film song.
Although the award ce ...
*
Filmfare Awards
The Filmfare Awards are annual awards that honour artistic and technical excellence in the Hindi-language film industry of India.Al The Filmfare ceremony is one of the most famous film events in India. The awards were first introduced by th ...
*
Bollywood
Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...
*
Cinema of India
The Cinema of India consists of motion pictures produced in India, which had a large effect on world cinema since the late 20th century. Major centers of film production across the country include Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, Ko ...
External links
Filmfare Nominees and WinnersFilmfare Best Male Playback Singer
{{Filmfare Awards
Male Playback
Indian music awards