Alia, Parineeti and Nimrat glam up women’s awards

“Winning an award is always great, but winning one as a woman is really special. It makes you proud of being a woman — you are an inspiration to all,” said Bollywood actress Parineeti Chopra at the GR8 Women Awards 2015 Middle East.

The Middle East chapter of the annual awards, recognising achievement by Indian and Arab women in various fields, was held for the fifth time in the UAE at the Sofitel The Palm Resort & Spa on Tuesday night, in association with the Dubai Shopping Festival.

Chopra, along with colleagues Alia Bhatt and Nimrat Kaur, and choreographer Pony Verma, was honoured for her contribution to cinema.

The brainchild of Anu Ranjan, editor and publisher of GR8! TV magazine, and her husband Shashi Ranjan, erstwhile Bollywood actor and founder of GR8 Entertainment, the concept — now running in its 14th year in India — works in conjunction with their initiative The Beti Movement. ‘Beti’, a Hindi word, literally translates to ‘daughter’ but refers to women empowerment. The awards are just a way to “applaud women who go beyond their duty to inspire and lead by example”, Anu Ranjan said.

Along with the said luminaries of Indian cinema, 11 Middle Eastern women were also picked for showing excellence in work in fields such as business, education, awareness regarding child abuse, media, finance and law, and, of course, women’s empowerment.

Parineeti Chopra (GR8 Women Award-Cinema, Versatility in Acting)

Empowering women: “Women, whether in Dubai or all over the world, are no different. Please be who you are. It may sounds cliched but it’s so important because people don’t really think about it in a serious sense. We really need to be who we are, do what we want because it gives you supreme happiness. I’m that person who does what she wants and what makes her happy, so I think every woman out there should do it.”

Inspiration: “All the women out there who are doing very well, in fact all the men also — let’s not be sexist — they always inspire you to do better. It makes you get out of bed and say ‘come on, let’s do better’.”

Alia Bhatt (GR8 Women Award-Cinema, Heartthrob of the Youth)

Empowering women: “This word ‘empowerment’ only comes because women have been suppressed in the past. We’ve been constantly told to shut up or not do anything because who knows what we can come up with. For me women’s empowerment actually means to get rid of the fact that we need to stress on the fact we need to empower women. There should simply be equality between genders. Not many people know this but I’ve been part of the GR8 Women’s Awards and the Beti Movement ever since it first started. I was in school when I participated in a fashion show which Anu Ranjan does every year where I walked with my mother on stage. I think it’s really great when you empower women and you facilitate and appreciate the kind of work women have done. And now that it’s moved to the Middle East, I think it’s even better because you get to learn so much of what people go through, their input in different fields. So I feel it’s an eye opener.”

Inspiration: “Instinctively I would say my mother but I think it should be my grandmother who has a very interesting story. My grandmother was German but had to leave her country because her father ran an underground newspaper against Hitler. So he was taken to a concentration camp which is a very scary story in itself. Today I look up to her because she’s a very strong woman.”

Nimrat Kaur (GR8 Women Award Excellence in Cinema – International)

Empowering women: “When you are truly empowered you don’t really need to scream about it from the rooftops. It is what you carry within you and I feel power is most felt when it’s inwards. I’m not really the kind of person who would externalise it. But then to each his own, as long as you stand for your beliefs, it’s fine.”

Inspiration: “In my life the real achiever is my mother. I think she’s the greatest woman I know and there are a lot of unsung, silent heroes in our lives and to me those are the biggest inspiration. People such as my grandmother, my mother are the real achievers that I know. Their strength as people — they aren’t feminists or women who need to scream for their rights. They are just strong women who go about life in a very simple way and do the best they can do.”

Neil Nitin Mukesh

Empowering women: “We live in a society which subconsciously is still very male chauvinistic. Unfortunately till now we have things such as female foeticide which don’t really make us proud. So these are just small reminders to tell them ‘listen guys, it’s been them on power from the beginning’. So hats off to all the women.”

Inspiration: “My mum is my inspiration. I know it’s cliched but there’s not one dream of mine that she wouldn’t fight for. To make my dreams come true she makes sure she doesn’t dream herself. My dream woman? Not a tough one for me because I have her in my house — she’s my mother. I want to be with someone just like her. Trust me that’s a very tough one to match.”

Surveen Chawla

Empowering women: “Awards are only inspiration for women across the world to find their own [space], to be independent. Awards are welcome for anything so it would be difficult to say for what. But to inspire others would be the right purpose of winning an award. And honestly it doesn’t really need a reward when you see others being inspired as that is in itself really the biggest award.”

Inspiration: “My mother is my inspiration. I think [if] I’m standing here today, I owe it to her. I think words fall short when you are trying to explain why your mother is your inspiration, your strength, your backbone. You just can’t describe it.”