When women are strong, countries become stronger: Akshay

Mumbai, Nov 19 (IANS) Lending his support to gender equality, actor Akshay Kumar said that strong women make stronger countries.

Akshay along with a bevy of Bollywood celebrities like Shah Rukh Khan, Varun Dhawan, Sidharth Malhotra, Vicky Kaushal, Rekha, Zeenat Aman, Hema Malini, Madhuri Dixit Nene, Kareena Kapoor Khan and Alia Bhatt, gathered on Sunday night to attend the 3rd Lux Golden Rose Awards to extend their support to the United Nations' campaign #HeForShe.

Talking on the subject, Akshay said: "When women are strong, families become strong and countries stronger. I am happy to be a part of a family which has many strong women like my mother, my wife, my sister and my mother-in-law."

The campaign celebrates the contribution of women to society.

Talking about the role of female actors in the industry, Shah Rukh said: "These women have contributed to making me a better human."

Gen-next stars like Taapsee Pannu, Nushrat Bharucha, Janhvi Kapoor, Ishaan Khattar, Rakulpreet Singh, Ada Sharma too were present at the event.

Janhvi, daughter of producer Boney Kapoor and late veteran actress Sridevi, bagged the Lux Golden Rose Emerging Beauty Of The Year.

She said the award was "encouraging".

"My parents have always maintained that a good artiste is a reflection of a good and honest person and I hope to prove myself by doing exactly that," she added.

Veteran actress and politician Hema Malini bagged the Lux Golden Rose Iconic Beauty Over The Decades award.

The star-studded evening became much entertaining when Kareena performed on stage on the super hit tracks of her male co-stars like Shah Rukh, Salman Khan and her actor-husband Saif Ali Khan.

Kareena also won the award of Lux Golden Rose Confident Beauty Of The Year alongside Shikha Talsania and Swara Bhasker.

Others who were seen shaking a leg at the gala were Varun Dhawan, who paid a tribute to his co-stars like Taapsee and Alia; and Madhuri, who enthralled the audience by dancing on tracks like "Dream girl", "Laila main laila" and "Yeh mera dil".