Tare and Smith gave Mumbai a flying start as they hit boundaries at will before Kevon Cooper got better of Tare in the tenth over.
Tare smacked two maximums and three fours in his quick-fire 27-ball 35.
Rajasthan Royals rode on a gritty 43 by Rahul Dravid before Dishant Yagnik upped the ante with an unbeaten 17-ball 31 to set a challenging target of 166.
Dravid was Royals' top-scorer as they seemed to struggle in the middle before Yagnik, who hit five fours, and Hodge (19 not out) added 57 runs in 27 balls to prop up their side.
They were also helped by some shoddy bowling by Malinga in the last over.
Harbhajan Singh made full use of the overcast conditions returning with figures of 3/23, including the prized scalp of Dravid, before Kieron Pollard took two in one over to further damage Royals' scoring rate after they opted to bat first.
Mumbai Indians got their script wrong in a horrible last over by Malinga who conceded 18 runs including seven extras.
The winners of the match will set up Sunday's summit clash with Chennai Super Kings.
An interesting duel was on display with a different-looking Dravid taking the attack on Mumbai Indians quickie Johnson, hitting the Aussie for consecutive boundaries with some classical flicks and drives.
That Johnson had troubled Ajinkya Rahane with his rising bouncer hitting the young opener's helmet a while ago, must have surely made the Aussie frustrated.
Finding him at the receiving end, Johnson, who conceded 23 runs from his three-over first spell, was seen losing his cool with some mild exchanges in the middle.
But the retired Indian batsman went about his way silently as his aggressive demeanour brought the otherwise downcast atmosphere alive.
The spinners got some help from the slow track that was aided by the overcast condition.
Ojha, who was introduced in the third over, troubled Dravid, conceding just three runs from his first over.
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