Mira Nair, the Oscar-nominated director of acclaimed films like Monsoon Wedding, The Namesake, Mississippi Masala and Salaam Bombay, was chosen as the India Abroad Person of the Year 2007, on March 28 at a glittering ceremony held at the Gotham Hall in New York City.The award was presented by Indra Nooyi, Chairperson and CEO, Pepsi, and India Abroad Person of the Year 2006.
Other India Abroad awardees are: Professors Padma Desai and Jagdish Bhagwati with Lifetime Achievement Award; Dr Renu Khator, the Publisher's Special Award for Excellence; Somdev Dev Burman, the Youth Achiever 2007 Award; Dr Navin Shah, the Community Service Award; Dr Joy Cherian, the Lifetime Award for Service to the Community.
This is the sixth year of the India Abroad Person of the Year awards(IAPOY). A pioneering effort to recognise Indian-American achievement, the award was instituted in 2002 by India Abroad, the oldest and most widely circulated news weekly for the Indian-American community.
Laced with humour and poignance, Mira Nair in her acceptance speech reflected on her life's journey from Orissa, where she was born, to Hollywood, where she is now a member of the A-List of directors. She paid rich tribute to her mother Praveen and all the other women who had inspired her to achieve heights no other Indian filmmaker has scaled in international cinema.
