Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty and racing driver Lewis Hamilton and have been awarded Britain’s Global Diversity award for 2008 for their contribution to diversity.

Shetty became famous in Britain last year after she was subjected to alleged bullying and racism in the television reality show Celebrity Big Brother. Her treatment — by some other participants in the popular show — became the subject of a heated row in India.

However, she was universally praised by British commentators for showing restraint.

Hamilton was also subjected to racial abuse. In February, he was racially abused by spectators during pre-season testing at the Circuit de Catalunya in Spain. The Federation Internationale de l’Automobile FIA) warned the Spanish authorities about such behaviour and announced it would launch a ‘Race Against Racism’ campaign.

At the awards dinner, a nervous Shilpa Shetty said she has had it with kissing on stage in front of Indians — a peck on the cheek is about the furthest she will go, even in London, she has made it plain.

The last time she did it — during an AIDS awareness event in New Delhi with Hollywood star Richard Gere in April 2007, Indian Hindu nationalists burnt her effigy and launched court action.

However, she puckered up to help galvanize a charity auction — the item under hammer was dinner with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Shilpa told her audience of London glitterati: "Come on people — this is for charity. The winner will get a kiss from me!"

She added quickly: "But it will be on the cheek. I don’t want my effigies burnt again."

The bid was won by a young man who pledged 12,500 pounds for the dinner — and also picked up three kisses on the cheek as a bargain.