Aishwarya Rai Bachchan has been chosen as the winner of the inaugural Meryl Streep Award for Excellence as part of the 2018 Women in Film and Television India Awards ceremony, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The award will be handed out to Bachchan on September 8 at Washington, DC, at a ceremony that will be held alongside the South Asian Film Festival. Bachchan was chosen because of her “distinction in her craft and for expanding the role of women within the entertainment industry”, according to a WIFT India press release.
The WIFT India Awards were established to celebrate the best female talent in Bollywood and Hollywood. Set up in 2012, WIFT India is the Indian branch of the international organisation WIFT, which has over 10,000 members spread across 40 chapters. The nonprofit organisation supports the professional development of women in cinema, television and digital media.
WIFT India will also award Janhvi Kapoor with the WIFT Emerald award, which recognises a debut performance. She made her debut in Shashank Khaitan’s Dhadak this year.
The WIFT India Producer of the Year award will be given to Catherine Hand for producing the feature-length adaptation of Madeleine L’Engle’s celebrated novel A Wrinkle in Time by Ava DuVernay.