Star Power

When organizers of Anokhi magazine's sixth annual Sexy and Successful Awards gala, held Friday at the Liberty Grand Entertainment Complex, announced that Slumdog Millionaire star Freida Pinto would attend the event, the news attracted significant media attention—and forced event producer Nila Mistry to make some last-minute changes.

Mistry had to move the press area to a much larger room at the venue to accommodate those on hand to document Pinto's acceptance of the newly created Anokhi Achievement Award—given to individuals who propel South Asian culture to an international level. The magazine secured Pinto's involvement in the event when Raj Girn, Anokhi's founder and publisher, approached her agent following a screening of the Oscar-nominated film at the Toronto International Film Festival last September.

Pinto, who is featured in the magazine's sixth anniversary issue, thanked Girn in her acceptance speech: "Raj approached my agent to feature me, a girl who only spends 20 minutes in a movie that no one knew would be a hit, to be on the cover of her magazine. Raj inspires young girls to just go for it. I'm grateful."

Media personalities Farah Nassar of CityTV, Devo Brown of Flow 93.5, and Veronica Chail of OMNI TV hosted the award ceremony, which featured a fashion show by Indian design house Prriya & Chintan and musical performances by the U.K. band Swami and Canadian singer-songwriter Zameer.

Event sponsors included Rogers, the Suites at 1 King West, Erin Mills Limousine, Shanu & Karim, COCO Models, Amplified Soul, Model S Training Agency, Lyrical Knockout Entertainment, Connexion 4 Media, Mosaic, mybindi.com, and The South Asian Times.