New York: Internationally acclaimed filmmaker Mira Nair has been honoured with the 'Person of the Year' award by a leading newspaper in the US in recognition of her work.
The award by India Abroad newspaper was presented on Friday evening to the Oscar-nominated director by PespiCo CEO Indra Nooyi, who herself received the honour the previous year, at a gala dinner attended by a large number of community leaders at the Gotham Hall in New York City.
Taking note of the contributions made by Nair to cinema and the community, Nooyi said she has captured the popular imagination through her excellence.
In her acceptance speech, 50-year-old Nair paid rich tributes to her mother and all those women who had been a source of inspiration to her.
Among Nair's highly successful movies are award winning Salaam Bombay, Monsoon Wedding and The Namesake. The producer-director-writer is to shoot her next film Amelia starring leading Hollywood actress Hillary Swank in locations in Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Canada.
Also honoured at the event were legendary economists Padma Desai and her husband Jagdish Bhagwati. The couple, distinguished professors at Columbia University, received the India Abroad Lifetime Achievement Award.
Nooyi, while presenting the award to Nair, said that through her work, she "provided us immense joy."
She has, through her excellence, captured popular imagination and thus built another important bridgehead between the country and the community here, Nooyi added.
Nair's acceptance speech was punctuated by humour in which she spoke of her life's journey from Orissa, where she was born, to Hollywood.
Padma Desai, a noted expert on Russian economy, and Jagdish Bhagwati, a leading advocate for free trade and globalisation, received their Lifetime Achievement awards from controversial author Salman Rushdie, who had won this award last year.
Renu Khator, President and Chancellor of the University of Houston, was awarded the India Abroad Publisher's Special Award for Excellence. She had left India as a young bride 35 years ago, and is among America's premier university administrators.
The India Abroad Youth Achiever 2007 Award was given to 24-year-old Somdev Dev Burman, the first Indian ever to win the prestigious US collegiate tennis title.
The awards for service to the community went to Navin Shah and Joy Cherian. Dr Shah, who helped pioneer a revolutionary ambulance service in India, was awarded the India Abroad Community Service Award 2007. Dr Cherian received the first Lifetime Award for Service to the Community.
The first Indian American to be appointed to a US government position, Cherian has been a towering personality within the community.
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