The 7th Annual Gr8 Women’s Awards took off with an extravagant, if cacophonous, red carpet affair at the Roda Al Bustan, Dubai on Wednesday night. The awards honour female achievers from the fields of art, commerce, sport, science and entrepreneurship from parts of Middle East as well as India.
Completely chaotic and poorly organised, it took more than two hours for celebrities to arrive.
The night began with the red carpet event, where the women being honoured at the Gr8 Women Awards 2017 flaunted their designer outfits and spoke about feminism, what it means to be a woman in their field and the importance of being honoured on that night.
Gulshan Grover, the “bad man” of Bollywood was the first celebrity to walk the carpet, followed by Lindsay Lohan.
In spite of the haphazard manner of events and the late arrival of the stars, most of them managed to get their message across about being strong women in their respective fields.
“Be yourself. Do what you want to do. It’s your life, so live it the way you want,” said Bollywood star Alia Bhatt.
She also spoke about the women who inspire her. “It definitely has to be my mother and my sister, who have really inspired me and always supported me, and have always been the voice that I needed to hear when I was not clear. That’s a cliche, but it’s true,” she said.
When asked how easy it is to make it as a woman in Bollywood, she joked, “It’s never easy to do anything in Bollywood.”
Esha Gupta, Miss Indian International 2007 winner and Indian film actress, was asked about her opinion on being a woman in Bollywood. She stated that it is not easy for women to make it anywhere, and that they are constantly being suppressed in a supposedly man’s world. “I think there’s a lot to be done for the women. But I’m just glad I can see a change in the country. In the whole world now,” she said.
Farah Khan, Bollywood director and choreographer, said that women can definitely have it all. She advised women not to listen to anyone who tells them they can’t have it all, because they’re wrong. When asked about the gender disparity in careers today, she takes offence at being called a “woman director” because a director has no gender. Her recommendation to women is to know the job well and not to cry on set when things go wrong.
