NDTV Announces Winners of Indian of The Year 2009
Salutes Outstanding Icons of Last 21 Years
Election Commission of India honoured as India’s Icon of Last 21 Years
Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and AR Rahman awarded India’s Icon of Last 21 Years in Entertainment
Sachin Tendulkar and MS Dhoni honoured with India’s Icon of Last 21 Years in Sports
NR Narayan Murthy conferred with the title of India’s Business Icon of Last 21 Years
Nitish Kumar honored as Political Leader of the Year
Saina Nehwal wins the Sportsperson of the Year Award
Ranbir Kapoor bags the Male Entertainer of the Year Award
Priyanka Chopra awarded the Female Entertainer of the Year
Anand Mahindra receives Business Person of 2009 Award
New Delhi, February 24, 2010 – NDTV today announced it’s much anticipated and prestigious ‘Indian of the Year Award’ in a star studded ceremony held in Delhi. The award function was attended by celebrities, bureaucrats and distinguished luminaries from all walks of life, including Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai, Shahrukh Khan, Karan Johar, Rishi Kapoor-Neetu Kapoor, Sania Mirza, Ajay Jadeja, Major Raghvendra Singh Rathore, AR Rahman, Anurag Kashyap, Kalki Koechlin, Javed Akhtar, Shabana Azmi, Nitish Kumar, P Chidambaram, Praful Patel, Shashi Tharoor, LK Advani, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, current and former Election Commissioners of India, Rahul Bajaj, Pramod Bhasin among many other illustrious personalities. The evening was also marked by a special performance on the ‘Jai Ho’ song by AR Rahman.
‘NDTV Indian of The Year’ honours distinguished visionaries, political leaders, sports personalities and entertainers who have done exceptionally well and have raised the Indian flag high. This year as NDTV completes 21 years, the award also salutes icons of change for the past 21 years.
Special Recognition was also conferred upon:
Rukhsana Kausar from J&K with Bravery Award, for her act of courage against terrorists;
Aradhana Gupta with Extraordinary Indian, for her crusade against injustice to her friend Ruchika Girothra;
Babar Ali from Murshidabad with Extraordinary Indian, for running afternoon school for underprivileged kids in his village;
Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Udyog Sanghathan with LIC Unsung Hero for spearheading movement for the tragedy’s victims
Karan Johar as Social Networking Icon of The Year, for making tweeting popular especially amongst Bollywood
Anurag Kashyap as Special Jury Mention(Bollywood) for making unconventional cinema popular
Shashi Tharoor as New Age Politician for using new media to reach out to people
The other winners of NDTV Indian of The Year 2009 are:
Sl. no
Category
Winner
1. Political Leader of The Year Nitish Kumar
2 .Male Entertainer of The Year Ranbir Kapoor
3 .Female Entertainer of the Year Priyanka Chopra
4 .Sportsperson of the Year Saina Nehwal
5. Business Person of The Year Anand Mahindra
6 .India’s Icon of Last 21 Years in Entertainment Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan & Aishwarya Rai Bachchan
7 .India’s Icon of Last 21 Years in Music AR Rahman
8 .India’s Icon of Last 21 Years in Sports Sachin Tendulkar & MS Dhoni
9 .India’s Business Icon of Last 21 Years NR Narayan Murthy
10. Election Commission of India India’s Icon of Last 21 Years
Mr. P Chidambaram, Home Minister as guest of honour said, “We will be talking to Pakistan with a list of issues which we want to discuss. We can’t change our neighbours but we can change their attitudes”. On the talks with the Maoists Chidambaram said, “We are willing to talk to them if they say that they’ll abjure violence”. Lending support to Shahrukh Khan on the recent protests over the release of MNIK by Shiv Sena, Chidambaram added, “The attack on MNIK was an attack on the Idea of India. I had told the government of Maharastra that the whole of India is watching them. I am glad that all of Mumbai came on the street to show their solidarity towards Idea of India”.
On being given a choice between Mamta Bannerjee and Laloo Prasad Yadav as Railway Ministers, Nitish Kumar, Chief Minister- Bihar said, “I appreciate the budget presented by Mamta Bannerjee as a Railway minister, I think she has presented a good railway budget.” He credited the people of Bihar for working for growth of the state indicated by the robust 11% growth in Bihar
Shahrukh Khan while thanking on being conferred with the title of India’s Icon of Last 21 Years in Entertainment said, “I think with Twitter I can share what I feel with my fans
frequently as lot of people share their daily routine and Karan Johar was the one who inspired me to use twitter to connect with my fans”.
Biz Stone, Co Founder of Twitter who joined live from California in his first ever interview to an Indian media said, “We have been surprised to see the amount of tweeting in India. It’s a very happy surprise. India has a very vibrant society and has a mobile centric culture. There is a lot of scope for growth. We have to continuously better ourselves. Its simple… we have to innovate and improve.”
T S Krishnamurthy, former Chief Election Commissioner on receiving the award of India’s Icon of Last 21 Years on behalf of Election Commission of India said, “India’s experiment in introducing electronic voting machine is unique. It’s a robust instrument. When it was introduced in 2004, we were quite apprehensive, but EVM has established itself as one of the finest tools of election management.” He further added, “Both Indians and foreigners have been happy with the use of EVM.”
Sachin Tendulkar on receiving the India’s Icon of Last 21 Years in Sports, commented, “It has been a great journey starting in 1989. People have stood with me and behind me. 21 years from now, I would like to see most of the country playing cricket and look forward to globalization of the game.” On being asked where he sees himself and Indian Cicket team 21 years hence, Mahendra S Dhoni who shared the same award with Sachin Tendulkar said, “I see Indian team winning the gold in Olympics. I’d like to do my bit for sports in the country by opening my own sports academy.”
While referring to Satyam takeover by Tech Mahindra, Anand Mahindra said, “Montek Singh Ahluwali was the unsung hero of the whole episode. Government played a very crucial role in the Satyam bailout and Montek spearheaded the efforts.” N R Narayan Murthy on his outlook for Indian economy for the next two decades said, “When every child in the country gets access to basic healthcare, education and shelter, we will fulfill the dream of the Founder of our Nation(Gandhiji) and then we will succeed. And I am quite optimistic about the same.”
L K Advani who presented the award to Amitabh Bachchan applauded his work and said, “I have seen almost all of Amitabh’s movies right from Saath Hindusthani to Paa and hope that he continues to entertain us with exceptional movies like Paa. Bachchan parivaar is like a family to me.”
The winners of ‘NDTV Indian of the Year 2009’ were chosen through a rigorous, multi-layered process guided by an experienced jury that comprised of eminent personalities such as- Naina Lal Kidwai (Country Head, Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation India); Shabana Azmi (Actress and Social Activist); Aruna Roy (Political and Social Activist); Vishwanathan Anand (International Chess Champion); Fali Sam Nariman (Indian Constitution Expert and Senior Advocate); Dr Prannoy Roy (Chairman NDTV) and Sonia Varma Singh (Senior Managing Editor-NDTV 24×7).
Valuable support for ‘NDTV Indian of the Year 2009’ has come from presenting sponsors LIC and associate sponsors HR Johnson, Godfrey Philips, Master Card, Whirlpool.
Catch the telecast of ‘NDTV Indian of the Year 2009’ on Monday, 1st March at 7:00pm and 10:00pm on NDTV 24×7 and at 8:00pm on NDTV India.