Razzle-dazzle galore at Masala! awards show

Manish Paul co-hosts the Masala Awards with Karishma Kotak organized by ITP Publishing held at the Madinat Jumeirah Ballroom. Antonie Robertson / The National

Bollywood stars, fashion designers, business honchos and young entrepreneurs came together in a heady mix of style and success to honour achievers in diverse fields from the Asian community at the Masala! Awards 2013 held in Dubai.
The celebrities dazzled in their designer outfits on the red carpet, keeping shutterbugs busy at Madinat Jumeirah on Thursday night. The Bollywood actress Esha Gupta (Jannat 2 and Raaz 3), started off the evening on a glamorous note. Often compared to Angelina Jolie, Gupta flaunted her dancing skills to popular Hindi film tunes, dressed in a sexy black and gold outfit.
Bollywood's it girl of the 70s, the actress Zeenat Aman, was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award in Bollywood this year. Aman, the very definition of bold and beautiful in the 1970s, was the one who introduced hippie culture to the Indian silver screen in her film Hare Rama Hare Krishna (1971).
With several box office hits to her name in movies where she was paired with Dev Anand, Amitabh Bachchan and Shashi Kapoor as co-stars, Aman said she was deeply honoured to receive the award.
"I think some of us are very fortunate to get to do the work that we like to do and the fact that the work is acknowledged is a huge bonus," she said, adding, "I've had a wonderful journey in Indian cinema from 1971 ... through many many years, many many films, worked with many talented people who were on top of their game at all times."
Aman, dressed in a red and black floral outfit, dedicated the award to her mother.
"The one person who made everything possible for me was my mother," she said.
The business awards started off with the Global Business Achiever honour going to Viswanathan Shankar for his role as chief executive of Standard Chartered Bank (Europe, Middle East, Africa and Americas), a non-executive director of Majid Al Futtaim Holding and a member of Singapore's National Integration Council.
The Lifetime Achievement Award in business went to Vasu Shroff, the founder of the Regal Group of companies, best known as one of the UAE's largest fabric retail chains.
Adding extra spice to the night was Chitrangada Singh, who gave scintillating performances to hugely popular songs such as Mera Ghagra and Chokra Jawaan Re, dressed in an embellished flowing skirt and a sequinned bustier.
Singh, famous for portraying strong, well-defined characters, went on to bag the Bollywood Dream Role award for her film Inkaar while the South Indian beauty Asin took away the Bollywood Megastar trophy.
Manish Paul, the host of the evening, took home a gong too – the Best Debut award for his film Mickey Virus.
Urmila Matondkar added to the star power on stage, giving away the Fashion Designer of the Year award to Amira Haroon, while Suneet Varma was named the International Designer of the Year.
Radio Mirchi took the honours for the Best Radio Station for the second consecutive time, with Head of Radio Mirchi, Sandeep Sud, collecting the award. Where there's music, partying and dance can't be too far behind, and that's where AKS scored as the Best Asian Club Night/Promoter.
The night wasn't all about music and film. For the all-important gastronomical awards, Gazebo, which has branches throughout Dubai, was named the Best Asian Restaurant (Casual Dining) and Signature by Sanjeev Kapoor, in Melia Dubai, took the trophy for the Best Asian Restaurant (Fine Dining).
[e-mail]