Fempowerment Women Achievers’Award 2012-2013
The first Fempowerment Women Achievers’ Award function was held in Mumbai on August31, 2012. The organizers had started out with almost a 160 names spread across 10 categories. These names were a result of diligent research and much valued input from respected names from various professions ranging from entertainment, media, science and medicine to corporate and industry. The jury too was selected on a similar basis, with the intention of forming it based on the selection of the nominee’s peers who were to be selected from various different professions and backgrounds to maintain a balanced viewpoint. One criterion that was ignored when choosing a jury was gender, seeing as how the whole aim of Fempowerment was to fight against the discrimination of the genders.
The grand ceremony was held at Rangsharda with a lot of glitterati attending the function. Winners were chosen in ten categories ranging from Zarina Mehta, Ekta Kapoor and Ritu Beri on one hand and Kavita Gadgil, Dr.Firuzan Parikh and Shikha Sharma on the other. The show was flawlessly hosted by the sultry Vandana Vadhera. The sword dance to depict woman ‘Shakti’ was very engaging. The performances of Rekha Bharadwaj and play back singer Akriti Kakkar saw the audiences joining in to sing as well. But the highlight of the event was undoubtedly the jugalbandi between the two singers which enthralled the audiences to no end.
Lion's Club had supported the cause. Mr Dhiraj Khandelwal of Lion's Club, a successful entrepreneur, a CA and council member of ICAI believed in this cause and extended his support for this initiative.
The idea that took birth in our office was conceptualized by our then creative head Faraz Ali, a talented writer and director and was further supported by Mr Khandelwal to make it happen in our first year. As they say beginning is very important for any cause, ours was the best.
The ‘Fempowerment Women Achiever’s Award’ function was a huge success and the brick had been laid for many to follow.
REKHA BHARDWAJ
AKRITI KAKAR
SWORD DANCE
Special Performance of Sword Act by a Woman
Vandana Vadehra