NDTV Good Times raises a toast to lifestyle icons

Honours icons of Indian lifestyle with country's first ever Lifestyle Awards

BestMediaInfo Bureau | Delhi | March 4, 2013

Shilpa Shetty Kundra received the 'Wellness Icon of the Year' award

Smeeta Chakrabarti, CEO, NDTV Lifestyle, Vikram Chandra, CEO, NDTV Group & Shilpa Shetty Kundra

NDTV Good Times hosted the premier edition of the NDTV Good Times Lifestyle Awards on March 2, 2013 at the Jaypee Greens Golf & Spa Resort, Greater Noida. The channel recognised icons in the field of food, travel, technology, fashion and luxury at the gala ceremony.

Raising a toast to the best in Indian lifestyle – from brands that make life an everyday delight to trends that have caught the nation's imagination – the afternoon saw the presence of Shilpa Shetty Kundra, Jacqueline Fernandes, Milind Soman, Maria Goretti, Vikram and Seema Chandra, Vir Sanghvi, Suhel Seth, David Abraham, Rakesh Thakore, Anupama Dayal, Ramola Bachchan among other celebrated faces, socialites and prominent personalities.

The awards were hosted by the uber stylish Ambika Anand and dashing Keith Sequira. One of the many highlights of the event was an exclusive fashion show by renowned designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee featuring supermodels Indrani Dasgupta and Noyonika Chatterjee amongst others.

Shibani Sharma Khanna, Channel Director, NDTV Good Times and Creative Head - NDTV Lifestyle, said, “We are extremely excited to present the country's first ever lifestyle awards. Even as we recognised the best in Indian lifestyle, it was heartening to see such iconic brands and personalities from across segments at the awards. We set out to make the awards a unique celebration of the Indian way of life and a symbol of excellence for all things lifestyle, and we couldn't have asked for a better start.”

Commenting on the timing of the awards, Khanna said, “We have established ourselves as custodians of Indian lifestyle by being the country's first lifestyle channel with original Indian lifestyle programming. And as we complete five years, we felt that this is the right time to declare the top niche in every genre.”

Speaking on the programming of the channel, Khanna said, “The space which we occupy is unique. If you see, the others are showing acquired international programming. We are the only channel with 100 per cent Indian programming which actually gives viewers a sense of urban contemporary India. We have been exploring different genres and we will continue to do so. Comedy is one area which we would like to try in coming time. Also, it's time now to have our own opera and we should certainly experiment with this.”

Nita Ambani won the 'Jaypee Greens Lifestyle Icon of the Year' from a list of nominees that included Saif Ali Khan, Vidya Balan, Virat Kohli, Sunil Bharti Mittal, Sachin Pilot and Nita Ambani. The voting process saw massive participation from discerning viewers to choose their favourite icon.

The following is the list of winners:

• Lifestyle Destination of the Year (International) – South Africa
• Lifestyle Destination of the Year (India) – Kerala
• Lifestyle Hotel/Resort of the Year – Taj Falaknuma Palace, Hyderabad
• Lifestyle Home & Accessories Brand of the Year – Good Earth
• Best Designer of the Year (Indian) – Abraham and Thakore
• Restaurant of the Year – Bukhara, ITC Maurya, New Delhi
• Spa of the Year – Ananda in the Himalayas, Rishikesh
• Luxury Brand of the Year – Hermes
• Lifestyle Label of the Year (International) – Cnanel and Hermes
• Wellness Icon of the Year – Shilpa Shetty Kundra
• Lifetime Achievement Award in Luxury – Yves Carcelle
• NDTV Lifestyle Award of the Year – Vidya Balan
• Jaypee Greens Lifestyle Icon of the Year (Viewer's Choice) – Nita Ambani

The winners were selected by a highly qualified jury comprising Alex Kuruvilla, MD of Conde Nast India; Gautam Singhania, Chairman & MD of Raymond Group; Raseel Gujral, Creative Director of Casa Paradox; Sabyasachi Mukherjee, Fashion Designer; Sanjay Kapoor, MD of Genesis Luxury; Smeeta Chakrabarti, CEO, NDTV Lifestyle; Suhel Seth, Managing Partner of Counselage India and founder of Equus; and Vir Sanghvi, Advisor at HT Media.

An extensive shortlisting process, rigorous judging parameters and the high powered jury ensured that the best across Indian lifestyle were acknowledged. The validation process was undertaken by Ernst &Young.

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