Shilpa Shetty is Mirchi Achiever

It's not every Bollywood star who quotes a dead Victorian British prime minister to make her point, but Shilpa Shetty has a way of doing the unexpected.

The 32-year-old actor is this year's Mirchi Achiever for keeping her head when all around her were losing theirs - both in the white-eat-brown confines of the Big Brother house, and later, when the Big Brothers of India's moral police made a national issue of Richard Gere pecking her on the cheek.

At a svelte gathering in a five-star hotel, managing director of The Times Group, Vineet Jain, felicitated Shilpa Shetty for doing the country proud. " The Times Group has always tried to bring to the common man the essentials that shape the world," he said. "Celebrities are role models who can help shape a better society, and Radio Mirchi has taken a big step forward in this direction with the Mirchi Achievers' Forum."

Her candid answers and ready wit drew spontaneous laughter from the audience that included film and media personalities from Dharmendra, Anil Kapoor and Romesh Sharma to Piyush Pandey, Prasoon Joshi and Anil Sharma.

A short audio-visual recorded in London soon after Shetty's reality show victory was aired. It included reactions from British prime minister Tony Blair to the racism controversy, the comments of Labour MP Keith Vaz as well as sound grabs from the ordinary Londoner.

Instituted by Radio Mirchi last year, the Mirchi Achievers' Forum honours prominent Indians in the fields of entertainment and sport, for achievements that go beyond the call of duty. Actor Shabana Azmi was felicitated last year for her contribution as parliamentarian and social activist.

Via