Noted Bollywood actor Vidya Balan and veteran star Maushumi Chatterjee honoured journalist turned author Ram Kamal Mukherjee with Power Brand Best Biographer Award for Hema Malini’s authorized biography Beyond The Dreamgirl. Published by Harper Collins India, the foreword has been penned by Honorable Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Hosted by Professor Arindam Chaudhuri of Planman Group, this award ceremony was held at The Orchid, in Mumbai. “Ram Kamal is a dear friend, and I have known him since my Parineeta days. It gives me immense pleasure to give him this award,” said Vidya Balan. Biographer Ram Kamal in his acceptance speech mentioned his association with Bollywood and completion of 20 years in journalism. “This award will always be special for me, for two reasons. Firstly, it was Vidya Balan who recorded a lovely video message for Hemaji (in Tamil) when we had released the book. She has always inspired me to follow my heart. And secondly, for Maushumi di who kept an important family commitment aside just to attend this ceremony,” said Mukherjee. He also thanked “dreamgirl” Hema Malini for her unconditional support to make this possible. “I owe Hema ji and my publisher Harper Collins all my awards, it wouldn’t be possible without their support,” he added.
Vidya Balan also mentioned that it was for the first time that she shared stage with the “original” Parineeta. Incidentally, Maushumi played Parineeta in a Bengali film directed by Ajay Kor in 1969, the same year when Hema Malini made her debut in Sapnon Ka Saudagar. Vidya Balan made her debut in Bollywood with Parineeta in Hindi, directed by Pradeep Sarkar in 2005.
The 2nd Edition of Bollywood Power Brand Award saw dignitaries like Rajkumar Rao, Raveena Tandon, Anil Thadani, Sonali Kulkarni, Sachin Khedekar, Kay Kay Menon, Anu Kapoor, Subi Samuel and many senior members from print and electronic media. While conferring the award to Ram Kamal, veteran actor Maushumi Chatterjee said, “I know Ram Kamal since he was a young boy. I met him first at Durga Puja in Mumbai, and since then we have strike a chord. I am glad that he has won the best Biographer Award for Hema’s book.”
The book already fetched Ram Kamal Best Author Award at Society Achiver’s Award and Rajasthan International Award this year, this is the third award. Shantanu Chaudhuri, Executive Editor of Harper Collins said, “It’s one of the most priced title from Harper Collins, and we are extremely delighted that the book has already bagged three prestigious award. We have always given preference to content, and I think Hema Malini: Beyond The Dreamgirl will always be remembered for its honest narrative.” Last year noted journalist Meena Iyer had bagged the award for Harper Collins’ Rishi Kapoor: Khullam Khulla. “It’s a rare instance where two of our authors have bagged this award in two consecutive years. This also puts us under pressure to deliver better and bigger biographies,” added Shantanu.
