A glitzy award ceremony honouring Bollywood and Indian pop music is coming to the capital. Ushma Mistry speaks exclusively to the man behind the awards Sanjay Lal and Bollywood heartthrob Hrithik Roshan.

THE first Indian music awards celebrating the vast array of Bollywood musical talent is set to take place in London with our very own home-grown talents headlining the performances.

The world launch of the Sangeet (music) Awards takes place at the Royal Albert Hall next Friday and Perivale-based Rishi Rich Project have been announced as one of the night's biggest performers alongside Bollywood heartthrob Hrithik Roshan.

The Sangeet awards was the brainchild of Sanjay Lal, CEO Percept D'Mark, the entertainment company behind the £600,000 awards ceremony, who wanted to celebrate and congratulate the musical talent behind Bollywood and Indian pop who are not usually recognised.

He said: "We have been seeing Bollywood movies being rewarded for their excellence for the past 50 years and music only had four or five award categories in these events.

"The Bollywood guys would get all the limelight and the people behind the music would take a backseat. Music is one of the most important parts of our lives and the backbone of Bollywood films. Because we think music is so important and there is no platform to honour music and the excellence in music, we thought it was important to fill that gap."

The Sangeet Awards will celebrate the rich cultural heritage, vibrancy and strength of Indian music. The most popular, entertaining and successful international artists will be recognised across 22 awards.

Mr Lal approached the Rishi Rich Project to perform at the awards because of their popularity. He added: "We approached Rishi Rich because we wanted a representation for pop music and they have been really popular."

More than 160 artists and musicians will be flown to London for the awards including Adnan Sami, Javed Akhtar, Shabhana Azmi, Sameer and Mehboob.

The Sangeet Awards are billed to be the first ever all-singing awards ceremony, where even the comperes will be announcing awards and introducing the acts through melody.

Hrithik Roshan, Bollywood heartthrob and actor, will be performing a number of dances from some of his hit films on the night.

He said: "Music is such an integral part, not just in films but in our culture. As Indians we express almost everything through music. All our films are musicals so I think this is a great step considering the global awareness occurring now around Bollywood.

"These are the first ever music awards, not based in our country (India) but bringing it out in the UK and allowing the awareness to go out and what better way to do it than through music? I am more than happy to be a part of this."

Although Hrithik is better known for his acting rather than his singing he admitted that music and singing are his biggest passions. A little known fact is that he can actually sing and play a few instruments.

He added: "I have been singing for the past 25 years but the reason no-one has heard it is because I don't sing in public. I sing to myself and I keep it to myself."

Hrithik will not be singing on the night and instead praised the musical ability of the Rishi Rich Project who he is looking forward to meeting on the night.

He said of their music: "They are great. India could do with any number of new talent and they would be very welcome. Their music is a great fusion and I look forward to meeting them."

The Sangeet Awards take place on Friday, October 1 at the Royal Albert Hall. Tickets are available from the box office on 020 7589 8212 or visit www.royalalberthall.com