Sonu Nigam receives Padma Shri from President Ram Nath Kovind, wife Madhurima and son Nevaan applaud. Watch

The photo from the ceremony showed Nigam, dressed in an Indo-western outfit, accepting the Padma award from the president of the country. The caption of the picture read, “President Kovind presents Padma Shri to Shri Sonu Nigam for Art. A well-known singer and music director, he has sung over 6,000 songs in more than 28 languages.”

President Kovind presents Padma Shri to Shri Sonu Nigam for Art. A well-known singer and music director, he has sung over 6,000 songs in more than 28 languages. pic.twitter.com/mwONZAyJ9I

— President of India (@rashtrapatibhvn) March 28, 2022

Singer Sonu Nigam, credited with 4,000 songs in 10 languages receives #PadmaShri from #PresidentKovind
#PeoplesPadma #PadmaAwards2022 pic.twitter.com/14uXtvoLga

— PIB India (@PIB_India) March 28, 2022

Earlier, the “Suraj Hua Madham” singer expressed his gratitude towards the government of India for bestowing the honour on him. He said, “My heartfelt thanks to all those who selected me and suggested my name for this prestigious honour. I would also like to thank my mother, Shobha Nigam, and my father, Agam Kumar Nigam. In fact, I want to dedicate this award to my mother. Had she been here today, she would have cried a lot.”

However, the singer also, in an interview, expressed how he thinks it’s too late for him to receive the honour. He said he was in two minds if he should even accept the award now. When the government representative called him to tell him about the honour, he told the person, “I don’t think I will accept it.” The official persisted, and Sonu said he will speak to his father and call back in five minutes.

Sonu said that he then realised that he has not lobbied for the award and it has “come from the universe”, and that motivated him to accept it.

Sonu Nigam has sung some hit songs in Hindi, Kannada, Odia, Bengali, Gujarati, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Nepali, Malayalam, Kannada, Bhojpuri, and other Indian languages. He earlier won National Film Award for the title track of Karan Johar’s 2003 film Kal Ho Naa Ho.