People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India marked their 10th anniversary celebrations on Friday (18th Dec) in Mumbai. Vegetarian Bollywood stars including John Abraham, Jackie Shroff, Celina Jaitley, Raveena Tandon, Mahima Choudhary, Gulshan Grover, Amisha Patel, and Hema Malini were among the stars, as was Shahid Kapoor who was presented with the Asia’s sexiest vegetarian award, the last person to have it was Kareena Kapoor. Apparently it was Shahid Kapoor’s influence which made her give it up.

“Being voted as sexy is a matter of perception but being vegetarian is a lifestyle change and something that comes from a sense of responsibility. This win also goes to break the myth that fitness cannot be achieved by eating vegetarian food”, says Shahid Kapoor in the press statement.

All of the above mentioned stars have been in some way helping PETA in India, from preventing the use of leather to the stopping of dancing bears.

As a Vegetarian myself I love to see celebrities being good role models. The public look up to these people and it’s the one’s that stay grounded and know their role that attracts people the most. That statement made by Shahid Kapoor is ever so important in India’s current situation. The people of India, unfortunately, make Bollywood their religion, and ever since Bollywood bought out men going topless and showing off their 6 pack and ripped biceps, that is all the men of India think about, “to have a body like that”, and I’m pretty sure they think eating meat, which is still frowned upon in India, is the correct way to do it. Hopefully by seeing that one of the most ripped up male Bollywood stars, John Abraham, is promoting Vegetarianism, we can only hope the rest will follow.