MUMBAI: This Friday, something incredible is waiting to happen. For the first time, India's biggest musicians and singers will arrive at BKC’s Jio Garden for possibly the biggest celebration and expression of Bollywood music. And what further makes the BMP a brilliant platform has been the versatility in its line-up that extends to composing a balance between male and female performers.

Eight female performers would be performing on 30 September and 1 October for Asia’s biggest and only Bollywood music festival. From veteran Rekha Bhardwaj to the young sensation Zublee Baruah, BMP possesses a stellar line-up of celebrated and emerging female musicians unmatched by any music festival before.

Bollywood actress Sonakshi Sinha would be making her live debut on the first day of the festival. “What inspired me to get into music is the dream of being in a concert while the crowd chants my name and it’s recurring. I guess it’s about time I execute my dream with Bollywood Music Project. I will be singing songs that I have grown up listening to and also the recent ones. What’s great about this is it’s a festival dedicated to film music, which often goes unappreciated,” said Sinha, when asked about the BMP.

Rekha Bhardwaj who also joins the first edition of Bollywood Music Project on an advisory role, explained that it’s extremely important for the festival to remain grounded in terms of the bigger successful run. “It’s a platform for established musicians and talents to come together and perform on the stage,” added Bhardwaj.

Local talent Vaishali Samant of the ‘Aika Dajiba’ fame joins the impressive list of line-up for a performance on the first day, sharing the stage with Hard Kaur, Sonu Kakkar and Shibani Kashyap.

This is what Hard Kaur had to say about the festival -

The talented and versatile Mahalaxmi Iyer becomes one of the highly anticipated acts of the festival. Iyer is extremely comfortable with languages and her elaborate discography justifies that. It’d be interesting to witness what the multi-linguist singer has in store for the attendees. Acting cherry on the top would be the fact that the songwriter would be collaborating with yet another versatile composer – Raghav Sachar for her hour-long performance.

Listen to what the young and mesmerising Zublee Baruah thinks about BMP -

Aditi Singh Sharma, who would be sharing the stage Arjun Kanungo and Maadhyam, has finally listened to her friends’ wishes with her first performance (after a long time) in Bombay, said “Only Bollywood Music Project can make something (bringing us together) like this happen.”

Joining Sharma on the second day of the festival will be Shefali Alvares (ft. Zoe Alvares) and Shalmali Kholgade.

For as long as Bollywood music has existed, female musicians have contributed in equal capacities as their male counterparts. And for reasons like this and more, BMP needs to be applauded to offer something for everyone, regardless of the gender, age, cultural background and musical preferences.