New York, Mar 29: Mira Nair, the Oscar-nominated director of acclaimed films like Monsoon Wedding, The Namesake, Mississippi Masala and Salaam Bombay!, was chosen as the India Abroad Person of the Year 2007, on March 28 at a glittering ceremony held at the Gotham Hall in New York City.

The award was presented by Indra Nooyi, Chairperson and CEO, Pepsi, and India Abroad Person of the Year 2006.

"After all, the Indian-American community is my extended family; India Abroad is its mirror and voice -- hence the pride I continue to take in the trophy that occupies a prominent position on my mantel," said Nooyi.

India Abroad Person of the Year 2006. .

Of Mira Nair she said: "She has, through her work, provided all of us immense joy. She has, through her excellence, captured the popular imagination, and thus built yet another important bridgehead between the community and the country."

Nair rushed to New York after a week-long trip to Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Toronto, Canada [Images], where she will shoot her next film Amelia, starring Hillary Swank, to receive the award. Her husband Mahmud Mamdani, a professor at Columbia University, was present on the occasion while only child Zohran, on whose insistence actor Kal Penn was selected for The Namesake could not make it.

In an acceptance speech punctuated by both humour and poignance, Nair reflected on her life's journey from Orissa, where she was born, to Hollywood, where she is now a member of the A-List of directors. She paid rich tribute to her mother Praveen and all the other women who had inspired her to achieve heights no other Indian filmmaker has scaled in international cinema.

Also honoured at the event were legendary economists Professor Padma Desai, arguably the most eminent expert on the Russian economy, and her husband Professor Jagdish Bhagwati, a leading advocate for free trade and globalisation.

The couple, distinguished professors at Columbia university, received the India Abroad Lifetime Achievement Award from writer Salman Rushdie, winner of the same award last year.

Hosted by Columbia Professor Sreenath Sreenivasan, the evening began with Ajit Balakrishnan, publisher of India Abroad, the oldest Indian-American weekly, owned by rediff.com, lauding the winners and the Indian-American community's achievements.

"We gather to celebrate a community, increasingly, and justly, famed for its achievements across a vast spectrum of activity, and to honour those Indian Americans who are deemed to be the first among these equals," said Balakrishnan.