Speaking on the occasion Anirudh Dhoot, Director of Videocon said, “We are proud to sponsor this prestigious award function.It’s a great opportunity to appreciate every actor’s talent and we at Videocon are more than glad to support this appreciation and encourage the Indian Film Industry. Entertainment is the biggest form of service and appreciating the efforts of people behind it, is a great thing to do”.

The award function was graced by bollywood’s finest celebrities Salman Khan,Priyanka Chopra,Vidya Balan,Prabhu Deva,Sridevi & Boney Kapoor,Hema Malini,Ramesh Sippy, Anil Kapoor, Abhishek Bachchan, Karan Johar, Sonakshi Sinha, Anushka Sharma, Jacqueline Fernandez,Ileana D’cruz, Arjun Kapoor Piyush Pandey & many more.

The who’s who of B-town walked the red carpet clad in stylish outfits. It was a night of fashion and entertainment as the event was packed with some glamorous performances and amusing acts.

This is the first time the superstar turned anchor, ‘Salman Khan’ hosted the award show along with dazzling Sonakshi Shina, who kept the audiences wanting for more! Legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar was awarded ‘Nightingale of the Century’ by veteran writer-lyricist Gulzar.Everyone was seen enjoying the night full of music, stars, anxiety and loads of excitement.

The CNBC Awaaz Travel Awards predict the emerging trends of the industry and honor these trendsetters. In addition to rewarding the best in class travel destinations, it also recognizes ancillary services of the tourism industry like transport, hospitality, tour operators and travel portals among others. Recognizing the need for ecological tourism, CNBC Awaaz Travel Awards have a special category for sustainable tourism.

India, a land of cultural exuberance, diverse landscape and host of myriad travel possibilities, has been a preferred destination for local and foreign travelers. CNBC AWAAZ Travel Awards is an annual event hosted by the channel to identify and reward the ones who have met consumer expectations and industry standards. With accelerating competition between tourist destinations, tourism promotion boards, hundreds of allied services to entice consumers, it becomes imperative to institute benchmarks. In the era when there is no dearth of choices for travelers, this award is a way to ascertain the fundamentals, which can aid consumers and industry players in valuing and choosing from the best in the business.

Executed through a consumer survey, these awards identifies and felicitates the best in the travel industry, discovers India’s travel potential, unveils decision making criterion and understands the consumer mindset. For the very first time, the consumer survey will be entirely online, where people will be able to vote and nominate their preferences in several distinct categories.
Consumers can nominate their favorites in the destinations,accommodation,travel Companies,tourism Board,transport and lifestyle.

People can vote by visiting the following till 31st August, 2012.

The ‘BIG Tamil Melody Awards’, to be held at Lady andal auditorium on Thursday, June 28th, is an exclusive platform to honor singers and musicians in various categories who crafted the year’s super hit numbers.

At the unveiling ceremony of the performers today, it was announced that legendry Shri SP Balasubramaniam, singers Vasundhara Das, Vijay Prakash, James Vasanth and music composer Bharadwaj will be performing at the ‘BIG Tamil Melody Awards 2012’.

Renowned singer and actor S.P. Balasubramanian is the face of the Awards, the ‘BIG Tamil Melody Awards 2012’ will see the coming together of stalwarts from the Tamil Music industry that has charmed the audiences with their wonderful melodies. The BIG Tamil Melody awards 2012 are powered by Air Asia, the award function plans to ensure maximum reach through multiple touch points by roping in a number of partners.

The grand function of the awards was presided over His Excellency Shri K. Sankaranarayanan, the Governor of Maharashtra. A veritable Who’s Who of renowned celebrities and public figures from Media and various other walks of life turned up to applaud the winners for their selfless work and achievements.

Apart from the eight illustrious Maharashtrians who won the Lokmat Maharashtrian of the Year 2011 awards, the President presented film legends Amitabh Bachchan with the Lokmat MOTY MANBINDU Award and Dilip Kumar with  the Lokmat Jeevan Gaurav (Lifetime Achievement) Award for their immense contributions to the world of cinema and entertainment. Both received a trophy, a citation and Rs 5 lakh each.

The eight winners of the Lokmat Maharashtrian of the Year 2011 for significant work and service in various areas were:

Paromita Goswami from Nagpur for Social Service & Public Service; Dr Himmatrao Bavaskar from Mumbai for Science & Technology; Raju Shetty from Kolhapur for Politics; Hanmant Gaikwad from Pune for Business;  Bandopant Rakhmaji Khedkar from Pune for Art; Kishor Kadam from Mumbai for Literature;  Veerdhawal Khade from  Kolhapur for Sports,  and Sheikh Nasir-Sheikh Niyaz from Nashik for Entertainment

The winners received an individual citation, a trophy and a cheque for Rs one lakh as a token of Lokmat Media’s appreciation of their immense contribution to the progress of Maharashtra.

Vijay Jawaharlal Darda, MP Rajya Sabha and Chairman -  Lokmat Media Limited, said, “The winners here today represent the best spirit of selfless and dedicated service to our glorious state, and truly deserve to be saluted with ‘Jai Maharashtrian’. I am confident that receiving this high award from the Her Excellency Smt Pratibha Patil, the President of India, will inspire them immensely, and will also encourage others to emulate them.” He thanked Her Excellency Smt Patil for having graced the occasion as Chief Guest. Mr Darda also thanked His Excellency Mr K Sankaranarayan, the Governor of Mumbai, for having presided over the awards function.

It was a keen contest for the top honours amongst a final shortlist of 39 nominees, who were chosen through a process through a robust process that has involved senior editors and the editorial board of Lokmat and IBN Lokmat, and a stellar independent jury of eminent Maharashtrians. This independent jury comprised well known and respected Maharashtrians (in alphabetical order of first names) Dr. Achyut Godbole, Mr. Ashutosh Gowarikar, Mr. Dhanraj Pillay, Mr. Julio Ribeiro, Ms. Medha Patkar, Mr. Rajdeep Sardesai and Ms. Shobha De.

Jatin Varma, Founder, Golden Kela Awards, commenting on this year’s nominations, said, “Generally speaking, this year’s films haven’t been all that bad – which may have been good for Indian audiences, compared to the last few years. However, our ‘cracked’ team of researchers has dug deep to find the worst of the lot for this year.”

The nominations are out and voting lines will open on January 2’ 2012. Log on to www.goldenkela.com to check out the categories, nominees, updates and cast a vote for vengeance.

The steady growth in the export of engineering goods from India has been a process of continuous innovation. India has always set quality standards in manufacturing and delivering services. Intertek, a leading global provider of quality and safety solutions partners annually with EEPC to acknowledge the developments in the engineering exports. This award covers the Manufacturers and Exporters of engineering goods and services.

“Intertek feels immense pleasure to partner with EEPC.  As the engineering sector is extremely diversified, it’s imperative to ensure that all possible & potential Indian products reach out to the global markets.  We are sure that Aquasub Enginering and Auto Shell Perfect Moulder are the best players in their respective sectors and can be good case studies for others to showcase quality in exports”, said Rajesh Saigal, Managing Director, Intertek India.

The winners Aquasub Enginering, manufacturer of water pumps and exporter to countries in Middle East, Africa and Europe and Auto Shell Perfect Moulder- the award winning cast iron manufacturer and exporter represent the best in the industry through the practices they follow and their due diligence in ensuring the all round quality for their products.

“We are honored to be felicitated with the EEPC-Intertek Quality Excellence Award. This award is one of the most prestigious and revered award in the industrial sector.” said G Nataraj, Director, Auto Shell Perfect Moulder Ltd. on receiving the award.

“With Intertek and EEPC, the export sector would certainly see a drastic change in implementing the quality and safety standards while shipping off engineering goods. Being the winner of this prestigious award definitely raises the goodwill and the brand name in the industry and further strengthens our credentials.” said Mr. Krishan Kumar from Aquasub Engineering on receiving the award.

‘EEPC- Intertek Award’ is one of the most respected awards in the engineering export sector.  The award recognizes the best talents from large Corporate Houses, Star Trading Houses, Small & Medium Scale Units (SME), with a strong hold of 60% of the awardees from the SME sector. The selection panel consists of 34 engineering sub-sectors with a group of 13,000 strong members of the Council representing almost the whole engineering sector.

NDTV Good Times Food Awards 2011

New Delhi : NDTV Good Times, India’s first premium lifestyle channel, hosted the second edition of the NDTV Good Times Food Awards at a high profile event at The Westin, Gurgaon on Saturday evening.

The channel honoured top restaurants, restaurateurs and chefs from across the nation in a gala awards ceremeony. The Westin resonated with the presence of celebrated faces, food enthusiasts, restaurant owners, chefs and other noted guests.

Among the many highlights of the event was a Sufi jugalbandi by The Mekaal Hasan Band and Harshdeep Kaur. The Highway on my plate duo, Rocky & Mayur kept the audience in splits with their humour and charm.

Speaking on the occasion, Smeeta Chakrabarti, CEO, NDTV Lifestyle said, “We are extremely delighted with the ovehwelming response to the second edition to our NDTV Good Times Food Awards. We are happy to see not only the industry but also citizens from across the country who voted for their favourite nominees. I would like to congratulate all the winners on behalf of the entire team of NDTV Good Times.”

Within a year the NDTV Good Times Food Awards have become the definitive standard to the best in the industry. With an unmatched expert panel that is unbiased and uncompromising when it comes to food, the awards are now the last word in the food and beverage space.

An addition to this year’s award categories was the Viewer’s Choice Award. This was a single award category where the viewers got an opportunity to decide the Best Foodie City of the country through their votes and Delhi NCR was unanimously selected by the citizens.

The winners are Best North Indian Restaurant – Karim’s Hotel, Old Delhi, Best Coastal Indian Restaurant – Gajalee, Mumbai,Best Regional Restaurant – Ponuswamy, Chennai,Best Asian Restaurant – Bomra’s, Goa,Best Dessert & Coffee Menu – L’Opera, New Delhi,Best Bar – The Blue Fog, Mumbai,    Best European Restaurant – Indigo, Mumbai, Most Sensational Debut – Smoke House Room, New Delhi,All time favourite Restaurant – Flury’s, Kolkata,    Best Dhaba – Fadtare Misal Pao, Kolhapur,Best Foodie City – Delhi NCR

The winners were selected by a highly qualified jury comprising of NDTV award winning anchor Vinod Dua, celebrity Chef Ritu Dalmia, Food critic Marut Sikka, popular anchor & Chef Aditya Bal, Restaurateur & Chef Vicky Ratnani and Highway Stars Rocky & Mayur.

The nomination list was developed from a universe of over 1000 restaurants by evaluating various journals/magazines in the public domain. The short listed restaurants were further assessed on the basis of their unique propositions. The parameters on which the restaurants were rated: Food, Service, Ambience and Key specialty of restaurant/bar. The validation process was undertaken by Ernst &Young.

Power Brands India is a research driven power book of India’s most powerful brands. A brand bible which garners the country’s most aspirational brands which have fortified their presence in the hearts and minds of the Indian consumers making them their most favourite brands.

The high profile event witnessed the presence of some of India’s biggest business Icons and dignitaries such as Sir Robert Worcester, Saharasri Subroto Roy, Lord Bilimoria, Lord Meghnad Desai, Lord Swraj Paul, Guy Kawasaki, Canadian Politician Dr. Ruby Dhalla, British MP Priti Patel, Dr. Rami Ranger, Siddharth Mallya, Dr. Raghupati Singhania – Vice Chairman, & MD JK Tyre & Industries Ltd., Ace F1 Racer Karun Chandhok, Actor – Director Farhan Akhtar, Shreyas Joshi – President, Park Avenue, Raman Roy – Chairman & MD, Quattro BPO Solutions, Ace Photographer Atul Kasbekar, Vandana Luthra, Gurnam Arora – Joint MD Kohinoor Specialty Foods, Mehul Choksi – Chairman & Managing Director, Gitanjali Group, Subas Allirajah – Chairman Lycamobile, Milind Kangle – CEO Lycamobilealong with many others.

The jury panel for the awards comprises of eminent actor & adman Barun Chanda , renowned public relations practitioner & socialite Rita Bhimani and celebrated danseuse Alokananda Roy. The jury panel will nominate the nominees for the popular category which includes movies , music & television. The jury board will also decide the winners of the jury awards which include categories like dance, theatre, sports, media & a special award for Rabindra Sangeet. Interestingly, the awards will have three categories- young, adult and senior, across the segments, covering all age groups and engaging a vast profile of viewers.

The jury identified nomination list will then be open to audiences for voting through the company’s radio vertical 92.7 BIG FM, utilising both sms and internet platforms and social media. Like all its Awards platforms, the participation of a wide cross section of society and especially females of all ages will be ensured by conducting innovative promotional activity across the city at malls, markets, colleges, housing estates etc.

Commenting on the announcement, Company Spokesperson said, “Through this innovative concept, we wish to pay tribute to the world of women entertainers without whom we couldn’t have been treated to a truly complete entertainment package. These awards will have high appeal in their respective regions as people will get to see their local women entertainers on this pedestal achieving recognition. The awards will receive multiple media promotions from across our business verticals- radio, television and out of home advertising. Through this platform, we will reach out to a diverse audience while offering marketers an excellent property to partner with.”

Having to its credit the successful execution of over 23 strong properties in under a year which include BIG Star IMA Awards & BIG Star Entertainment Awards which received a whopping TRP of 5.78 reaching out to millions of viewers, BIG Live is back with another innovative and a unique platform which is sure to garner eyeballs. Moreover, with its blockbuster series of Entertainment Awards across genres in the eastern region, BIG LIVE is already the most successful producer of IP’s in this part of the country.

Anirudh Dhoot Director, Videocon Industries Ltd. was honored with the title, “Businessman of the year” at the D.Y.Patil Annual Achiever’s Award. The award was given by Rural Development minister Jayant Patil  and famous Lyricist,writer & ad Guru  Prasoon Joshi

“It gives me immense pleasure to accept such a prestigious title. I feel proud to have been given this kind of acknowledgment. I owe all the learnings in my life to my Father. It is from him that I have imbibed the values, which I possess. And in the end I proudly wish to say that the efforts of our team have paid off. It’s a result of their relentless effort, that has taken Videocon group to greater heights.” said  Anirudh Dhoot

The grand award function that took place at the Taj Lands End 13th November  was embedded with the eminent personalities such as His Highness prince of Udaipur Lakhyaraj Sighh, Eminant Social Worker Sindhutai Sapkal, Dr.Prakash Amte, Rural Jayant Patil, Vasant Davkhare, Chaggan Bhujpal,Uddhav Thackrey, Sachin Ahir, Sashi Tharoor, Fardeen Khan, Aadesh Srivastav, Hariharan, Aditi Govitrikar, Dhanraj Pillai, Leena Mongre, Subhash Ghai, Sonu Nigam, Baba Siddiqui, Poonam Dhilon, Ramesh Sippy, Arti Kailash Sudernath, Tabassum, Rohit Roy, ,Jackie Shroff, Rajeev Shukla, Eknath Khadse and Justice Dharmadhikari.

The occasion began with great performances; Mandira Bedi and Shekhar Suman added their touch and flamboyance to the event as the presenters for the evening. The audience was kept enraptured by the performance presented by the adorable special children from the Being Human foundation. Salman Khan was acknowledged for Being Human Foundation and encouraged the children performing by joining them on the stage.

The act by Tripura Troupe brought the rustic feel of the splendid country alive with dancers performing with great vigor and dynamism and left everyone spellbound. Shaan wooed the audience with his majestic voice and charismatic performance.

The event was a true celebration of the various achievements of the awardees present .The winners of the first D Y Patil Annual Achiever’s Awards are:
•    Businessman of the Year – Mr. Anirudh Dhoot
•    Best Organization in Education – Rayat Sikshan Sanstha
•    Best Individual Working for Education – Prof. Raghunath Malshekar
•    Best Organization in Social Work – Iskcon Food Relief Foundation
•    Best Individual in Social Work – Dr. Prakash Amte
•    Best Budding Talent – Yuvraj Valmiki
•    Bravery Award – Adl. Commissioner of Police  Vishwas Nagre Patil
•    Corporate Person of the Year – Mr. D.K. Mehrotra
•    Visionary of India – Anil Kakodkar
•    Sportsperson of the Year, Male – Zaheer Khan
•    Entertainer of the Year – Deepika Padukone
•    Sportsperson of the Year, Female – Tejaswini Sawant
•    Lifetime Achievement Award – Yash Chopra