iWorld
Singer Sumeet Tappoo bags three awards at third edition of The CLEF Awards
Mumbai: Sumeet Tappoo, Fiji-born, Mumbai-based singer has become the first artist from Fiji to bag a collection of three awards at the third edition of The CLEF Awards in India.
The CLEF Awards, an event by Radioandmusic.com is India’s premier independent music awards function celebrating the excellence of artists in various genres and languages.
Sumeet was nominated in six categories at the awards function out of which he bagged three. Shivohum, a song by Sumeet Tappoo, Prithvi Gandharv and Meenal Jain, won the coveted ‘Song of the Year’ in the general category – a first for a spiritual song to be given this honour as the other nominations were across all genres of music. The second title that Sumeet won was ‘Artist of the Year’ in the Ghazal category. ‘Ghazal of the Year’ was the third award won by Sumeet for his release ‘Ret Ka Ghar’.
Ret Ka Ghar, released in January this year, has been sung by Sumeet, composed by Prithvi Gandharv, penned by Shakeel Azmi and music production by Mir Desai.
The other three nominations for Sumeet included ‘Best Music Video’ for Shivohum – a stunning video shot up in the Himalayas by the young and talented Geetesh Yadav, Parth Dubey & Pratham Chourasiya; ‘Artist of the Year’ in the spiritual category for Sumeet, Prithvi and Meenal for Shivohum; and ‘Ghazal of the Year’ for ‘Jab Bhi Milte Hai’ which features music by Sudeep Banerji.
The third edition of the event was hosted in Mumbai which featured the biggest names in the industry with all the glitz and glamour that an award night has. Sonu Nigam and Shreya Ghoshal were also winners amongst a whole host of musical talent from across the nation.
On the recognition, an excited Sumeet Tappoo said, “Receiving six nominations was in itself an honour and I didn’t think I’d be considered for any of them although I’d hoped for one. But to have won three CLEF Awards is such an incredible feeling and a tremendous blessing because that room was buzzing with the best artists in India. I, along with all the artists across India, are truly grateful to radioandmusic.com and CLEF for creating such an incredible platform.”
Lauding his team’s efforts, Sumeet added, “The reality is that winning these awards could not have been possible without my fellow artists who have worked very hard and with a lot of passion. I heartily thank Prithvi Gandharv, Meenal Jain, Geetesh Yadav, Parth Dubey, Pratham Chourasiya, Mir Desai, Sudeep Banerji, Shakeel Azmi, Ajay Sahaab, Paras Nath, Manas Kumar, Prashant Sonagra, and so many more who have been an incredible part of these songs.”
Sumeet dedicated this award to his Sadguru for his blessings and to his mother Maya, father Mahendra, wife Dr Krupali and daughters Saisha and Meera for their sacrifice and constant love and support.
iWorld
WhatsApp may soon let users to pick who sees their status updates
The messaging giant is borrowing a page from Instagram’s playbook as it pushes to give users finer control over their social circles.
CALIFORNIA: WhatsApp is quietly working on a feature that could make its Status function considerably smarter and considerably more private.
According to reports from beta tracking platforms, the app is testing a tool called Status lists, which would allow users to create named groups such as close friends, family and colleagues, and control precisely which group sees each update. It is a meaningful step up from the platform’s current blunt instruments, which offer only three options: share with all contacts, exclude specific people, or manually select individuals each time.
The new feature draws an obvious comparison with Instagram’s Close Friends function, and the resemblance is unlikely to be accidental. Both platforms sit within Meta’s family, and the company has been nudging them toward a common logic of audience segmentation for some time.
The move also fits neatly into WhatsApp’s broader privacy push. The platform has been rolling out enhanced chat protections and is exploring the introduction of usernames, which would allow users to connect without exchanging phone numbers. Status lists extend that philosophy from messaging into broadcasting.
Meanwhile, Status itself has been evolving well beyond its origins as a simple photo-and-text slideshow. The feature now supports music stickers, collages, longer videos and interactive elements, pushing it closer to the social-media-style story format pioneered by Snapchat and refined by Instagram. In that context, finer audience controls are not merely a privacy feature. They are a precondition for people sharing more.
The feature remains in development and has not been confirmed for release. WhatsApp routinely tests tools that are later modified or quietly shelved. But the direction of travel is clear: the app wants Status to be a destination, not an afterthought. Letting users decide exactly who is in the audience is how it gets there.
