GQ HONOURS A.R.RAHMAN AS GQ LEGEND

GQ honours A.R.Rahman as GQ Legend

GQ India's Men of the Year Awards, in association with Chivas, commemorated the most outstanding Indian achievers of 2011. In the third year of the awards held on the 29th of September at the Grand Hyat, Mumbai, GQ honoured 15 extraordinary Indian men and 2 exceptional women, the finest talents in their areas of expertise, from sports to business, film, literature, art and fashion.

Hosted by Vir Das, the evening was brimming with laughter and champagne-fuelled celebration; the audience was entertained by spectacular performances by Grammy-award nominee Melanie Fiona and popular Romanian artist group Akcent.

The star-studded ceremony saw winners including Shahrukh Khan (Cinematic Icon), Farhan Akhtar (Creative Power House), A.R. Rahman (GQ Legend), Imran Khan (Chivas Award for Outstanding Achievement), Kumar Manglam Birla (Businessman of the year), Yuvraj Singh (Sportsman of the year) and Frieda Pinto (Woman of the year) and Anushka Sharma (Excellence Award) among others.

Other than the winners, gracing the red carpet were a host of glitterati including Karan Johar, Gauri Khan, Deepika Padukone, Simi Garewal, Leander Paes, Parmeshwar Godrej, Queenie Singh to name a few.

On the awards ceremony, Alex Kuruvilla, Managing Director Condé Nast India said, "The 3rd edition of the GQ Men of the Year, with a power-packed line-up that includes Shahrukh Khan, Frieda Pinto, Kumar Mangalam Birla and A.R. Rahman proves once again that GQ is the ultimate arbiter of style and success in India."

Adds Che Kurrien, Editor, GQ India, "We scoured the country to unearth and celebrate its most powerful and stylish men. Our winners are a unique mix of business and media leaders, actors and sportsmen, thinkers and artists – in other words, a congregation of India's most accomplished men."

The celebratory event brought together partnership with leading luxury brands – Chivas, BMW, Chopard, Grand Hyatt, Broadview and Star World.

"GQ Men of the Year recognizes outstanding people who have made a contribution to their field of work or society. Chivas Regal has been, and will remain, an intrinsic part of this brotherhood", commented Bikram Basu, Vice President, Marketing, Pernod Ricard India.

Dr. Andreas Schaaf, President of BMW India shared, "BMW stands for performance, achievement, elegance and style; in a nutshell – Premium and at the top. This is why BMW India chose the GQ Men of the Year Awards for the India launch of the new BMW 6 Series Coupe. It is the perfect vehicle of choice for the extraordinary men whose achievements and style GQ celebrates through these awards."Karl-Friedrich Scheufele, Co-President of Chopard said, "Chopard is honoured to be a partner of the GQ Men of the Year Awards 2011. As a high end watch and jewellery brand, we value excellence and tradition as much as passion and we are looking forward to celebrating inspirational men and outstanding women."

For over a decade, the GQ Men of the Year awards ceremonies have been congregations of some of the most stylish personalities – and the awards themselves, significant markers of achievement – in both America and Britain. International winners include Barack Obama, Leonardo DiCaprio, Bill Clinton, Michael Caine, Rio Ferdinand and Gordon Ramsay. Last year, GQ India's winners included John Travolta, Karan Johar, Ranbir Kapoor, Arjun Rampal and Abhishek Bachchan among others.The Men of the Year-anniversary issue hits stands on the 1 October, across India.
Winners:

Cinematic Icon – Shahrukh Khan

GQ Legend – A. R. Rahman

Businessman of the Year – Kumar Mangalam Birla

Woman of the Year – Freida Pinto

Creative Power House – Farhan Akhtar

Chivas Award for Outstanding Achievement – Imran Khan ,Sportsman of the Year – Yuvraj Singh

A R Rahman's 'Satyameva Jayathe' from today!

Music Maestro  AR Rahman's latest offering, 'Satyameva Jayathe' is due for a release just before Independence Day which falls on August 15.This song is crooned by  international legends such Mick Jagger, Dave Stewart, Joss Stone and Damien Marley; incidentally, Mick Jagger singing in Sanskrit on the track is definitely a treat for every music fan!

Speaking on the release of 'Satyameva Jayathe' A R Rahman quoted saying, "When Dave said A R we want your voice in this album we want this to be a great Indian song too; a long dream for me was to take one of the morals of Indian culture which is  Satyameva Jayathe and make it as a song. This is historic if Mick Jagger, Joss Stone, Damian Marley and Dave Stewart and I come together for a song like this; it is iconic in a way. I hope people like it."The song will be premiered exclusively by a leading radio station today, across 22 cities.
A leading radio station will be doing the premiere of the song across 22 cities. 

                                Hats off  Rahman ! 

After Rahman, Yash Chopra signs Gulzar for his next

Mumbai, June 20 (IANS) It seems Yash Chopra's next directorial venture is going to be a musical treat. After collaborating with music maestro A.R. Rahman, he has now roped in ace lyricist Gulzar for his movie and is quite excited about it. 

'Though he has been associated with Yash Raj Films earlier, this is the first time that I will be working alongside Gulzar Bhai,' the veteran filmmaker said in a statement.

'I am looking forward to some brilliant poetry, which I am personally very fond of. It will also be a privilege working with the award winning pair of A.R. Rahman and Gulzar Bhai and making some wonderful and meaningful music,' added Chopra, who has decided to wield the megaphone after seven years.

Rahman and Gulzar had together picked the Oscar award for the song 'Jai ho' from Danny Boyle's 'Slumdog Millionaire' in 2009.

Gulzar is also quite upbeat about working with Chopra, who has made films like 'Silsila', 'Chandni', 'Lamhe', 'Dil To Pagal Hai' and 'Veer Zaara', which was his last directorial project released in 2004.

'Yashji is someone who understands poetry and has probably redefined the poetry of romance through the music of his movies. There is a sense of excitement and anticipation in working with him,' said Gulzar, popular for his meaningful lyrics in songs like 'Tujhse naraaz nahin zindagi', 'Aanewala pal' and the more recent peppy songs 'Dil toh bacha hai ji' and 'Darling'.