I’m every woman, it’s all in me!

Women achievers are honoured at a glittering ceremony attended by the who’s who of Mumbai.

It was a celebration of womanhood at the NCPA on Saturday evening as the Fair & Lovely Zee Astitva Awards saluted and honoured women for their outstanding contributions in their field of work.

Organised in association with Archana Trust Suburban, the awards saw a galaxy of stars and achievers in full attendance, to make the evening a memorable one for all those present. The high profile jury comprised former winners like Rajashree Birla and Nita Ambani, besides Pheroza Godrej, Sangita Jindal and Ananya Goenka and others.

The chief guest was Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel, and the evening kicked off with some melodious renditions by some of Zee’s Li’l Champs followed by a scintillating and unique medley performed by a string of Zee TV bahus — Roshni Chopra, Prachi Desai, Arunima Sharma (‘Kasamh Se’) and Rajashree Thakur (‘Saat Phere’). That set pace for more sizzling acts from the belles of Bollywood — Bipasha Basu, Koena Mitra and Rimi Sen.

Making a rare appearance to give away the Lifetime Achievement Award was Karisma Kapur, who looked drop dead gorgeous in a shimmering white sari. While she politely excused herself from the media, she was overheard telling Kumarmangalam Birla that she would like to wait till her daughter Samaira was a little older before taking the plunge into films.

The glittering galaxy of prominent faces who gave away the awards, ranged from Indian music maestros like Pt Jasraj, Pt Shivkumar Sharma and Hariprasad Chaurasia to Mumbai Police Commissioner AN Roy, Neerja Birla, Dr Indira Hinduja and Sonali Bendre among others.

Subhash Chandra Goel, the chairman of Zee Telefilms presented a cheque to the Archana Trust in recognition of the exemplary social work it is doing.

In the special awards category, UK based human rights campaigner and activist Zerbanoo Gifford and President of the Asia Society (US) Dr Vishakha Desai were named the International Women of the Year. Padmavathy Bandhopadhyay won the award for Rare Achievement — on being the first woman to reach the rank of Air Marshal in the Indian Air Force. There were three recipients of the Lifetime Achievement Award — Dhondutai Kulkarni (the last living icon of the Jaipur-Atrauli Gharana), Ela Ramesh Bhatt (one of the driving forces behind SEWA) and Mahasweta Devi (writer and activist).