An equal evening

Apurva Purohit, Rasika Dugal and Harsha Bhogle at the release of Lady, You're The Boss! at Arth on Thursday

Actor Divya Dutta, it's obvious, gives a 100 per cent to what she takes on. On Thursday night, she arrived to launch Apurva Purohit's latest title, Lady, You're The Boss! (Westland Publications), at Arth in Khar to a room milling with top corporates, media and women icons. She was scheduled to read a few lines from the book, but she went a bit further and wrapped it up with a little something that made the audience go, aah! "Jab main bhi office jaati hoon, tum bhi ghar ko sawaar do na; tumne kaha tha hum ek hi hain, toh apne barabar kar do na".

Host for the evening RJ Salil

Lines from a poem on gender equality written by her brother Rahul Dutta, recently gone viral, became the perfect start to an evening that hoped to inspire more women to claim their place in the sun. One of Indian cricket's most famous faces Harsha Bhogle, actor Rasika Dugal, restaurateur and chef Pooja Dhingra and screenwriter-photographer-filmmaker Sooni Taraporevala joined Purohit, president, Jagran Prakashan Group, as she reminded any woman who cared to listen what makes good leaders.

Divya Dutta

"In a lot of ways, this is my memo to all the women out there exhorting them to stay the course, no matter the odds," she said, sharing embarrassing statistics, including that only five per cent of senior management roles are filled by women, and barely three per cent of VC funding goes to women entrepreneurs. That Purohit bagged Business Today's Most Powerful Women 2019 honour and made it once again to Fortune India's Most Powerful Women in Business list, all in the same week, makes this book worth your time.

Sooni Taraporevala

Pooja Dhingra

Catch up on all the latest entertainment news and gossip here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates