L’Oréal Paris Femina Women Awards 2013

Last night, the L’Oreal Paris Femina Women Awards 2013 took place in Mumbai. The star-studded evening honoured the achievements of women in all fields from entertainment and arts, to sports and entrepreneurship.

Actress Vidya Balan received the "Women We Love" award, and said "This is a celebration of me as woman. This award is special because it celebrates the essence of women. Women are now beginning to take centrestage and getting recognised."

Actress Nandita Das – who has starred in a number of Southern films including Kannathil Muthamittal, Telugu film "Kamli", and more recently in 2012 Tamil film "Neer Paravai" – received the Jury award for performing arts, along with theatre duo Sanjana Kapoor and Sameera Iyengar. 

Bangalore designer Deepika Govind received the Women of the Year award for design, and she was presented the award by leading Indian designer Manish Malhotra and Hyderabad-born actress Aditi Rao Hydari. The designer Tweeted to say that she was "humbled on winning…and sharing the stage with real women". 

Performances on the night included The Diva Project, a musical trio made up of Malayali singer Suchitra Pillai, Manasi Scott (whose first playback recording was the song "Othayadi Paathayile" from Tamil film "Snehithiye"), and Anusha Mani. 

L’Oreal Paris India ambassador Aishwarya Rai Bachchan was at the event to present the award for "Social Impact". Though she looked dazzling in a silver dress by Rohit Gandhi and Rahul Khanna, we feel the black blazer was an unnecessary addition to what would have otherwise been a great outfit!