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 The French embassy will honour Saturday legendary Hindi film actor Amitabh Bachchan with the Legion d'Honneur, France's highest civilian award, for his contribution to Indian and international cultural life. French Ambassador Dominique Girard will confer the award on Bachchan at a special function at the embassy. Apparently, entire Bachchan clan is expected to grace the occasion. Aishwarya Rai, who just got engaged to the actor's son, Abhishek, is also likely to be seen at the award ceremony. Eminent filmmaker Luc Jacquet's thought provoking film "Penguins, A Love Story" will be screened on the occasion. Actress Romane Bohringer, who did the voice over for the French portion of the film, Christophe Lioud and Yves Darondeau, founders and managers of production company Bonne Pioche, will be present there. Other well-known personalities from Bollywood, the Mumbai-based Hindi film industry, to attend the function will be Manmohan Shetty of Adlabs Films distributors and Sunil Doshi of Alliance Indian. Both Shetty and Doshi are the rights holders of the film. The French embassy in India had made the announcement Oct 10 last year, which coincided with Bachchan's 64th birthday. Created to reward eminent military and civil merits in the service of France, Legion d'Honneur is the highest distinction that can be conferred to a French citizen or a foreigner. Among the eminent Indian personalities to have received the honour are Oscar-winning filmmaker Satyajit Ray in 1987, sitar maestro Ravi Shankar in 2000 and environmentalist R.K. Pachauri in 2006. Bachchan, an icon in India, is well known in many countries around the world. The BBC Online voted him as the 'Star of the millennium' above Hollywood greats like Sir Lawrence Olivier and Charlie Chaplin. The actor, popularly known as Big B , has dominated Indian cinema since he quit his job as a freight broker in Calcutta and joined Bollywood more than three decades ago.
Related StoriesFRANCE-HONOURS-BOLLYWOOD-STAR-BACHCHAN The French government yesterday (11OCT06) confirmed Bollywood star AMITABH BACHCHAN will receive the country's prestigious Legion d'Honneur award. The announcement coincided with the Indian legend's 64th birthday, and the award will be presented to Bachchan by France's ambassador to India, DOMINIQUE GIRARD, at a ceremony in New Delhi in the near future. A spokesperson for the French embassy in India said Bachchan is being given the Legion d'Honneur in recognition of his "contribution to Indian and international culture". The Legion d'Honneur is awarded for outstanding achievements in either culture, science, industry or the military. source:contactmusic more Bollywoods-Bachchan-gets-honorary-degree Indian film legend Amitabh Bachchan has been selected to receive an honorary doctorate degree from the University of Delhi. Bachchan will be one of seven honorees who to receive degrees Saturday at his alma mater. Bachchan, 64, has been a leading man in India's thriving cinema for four decades and is the first movie personality to be honored by the university, the Hindustan Times reported Wednesday. University officials described him as an inspiration to new generations of Indian filmmakers. source:UPI & more Big-B,-Benegal-bag-top-honours  The much delayed National Film Awards for 2005-2006 were finally presented by the President on Friday evening in New Delhi. The glittering ceremony held at Vigyan Bhawan honoured film personalities and technicians from across the country. Filmmaker Shyam Benegal the winner of the Dada Saheb Phalke Award got a standing ovation. From the Best Film Kaalpurush to the Best Entertainer Rang De Basanti the award winners said they were humbled to receive the national honour. more France-comes-calling-to-award-Lata In an unprecedented move the authorities in Paris have decided to fly down to Mumbai to confer the Legion d'Honour on India most prolific singer. It's a classic illustration of the mountain coming to Mohammad. When the French government conferred its most prestigious civilian honour, the Legion D'honour on Lata Mangeshkar two years ago, she had only one reservation. And it had something to do with air travel. Lata expressed her inability to undertake the long journey to Paris to collect the award. But was the French government deterred? Not the least! In an unprecedented move the authorities in Paris have decided to fly down to Mumbai to confer the Legion d'Honour on India most prolific singer. The function more Rajnikanth-turns-down-honor-at-IIFA  Though the IIFA awards ceremony at Yorkshire went off swimmingly, a little-known fact about the event is the reason behind non-presence of the Tamil iconic superstar Rajnikanth. According to sources, Rajnikanth was offered a very special award at this year's IIFA for his tremendous popularity among Tamil-speaking audiences across the world. In fact the offer to receive this prestigious award was made by none other than the IIFA ambassador Amitabh Bachchan. However Rajni who's always fought shy more Mahesh-Babu-thanks-fans Prince Mahesh Babu thanked all his fans for giving him their unstinted support and love. Mahesh Babu was in Dubai to receive the Best Actor Award organized by the Santosham Film magazine. Over 30,000 people participated in the awards function. Mahesh Babu said that he was doubly thrilled to receive the award as well as meet his fans in Dubai. Mahesh Babu came along with his family - wife Namitha and his young son. &n more Suchitra-not-to-receive-award-  Actor Suchitra Sen is a living legend, someone who has often been compared with Hollywood’s most enigmatic star Greta Garbo for her talent, beauty and elusiveness. After all, few have seen Suchitra Sen since 1995, and no matter how much the present government tries, it is finding it difficult to get her out of this house to get the prestigeous Dada Saheb Phalke Award. “ I don't think she would go to Delhi to receive the award. She can receive it if any representative comes to her,” said Subrata Mukherjee, a close friend o more Amitabh-Bachchan-considers-Bollywood-more-creative-than-Hollywood  Bollywood mega superstar Amitabh Bachchan dismisses the notion that Indian films should aspire to win Oscars, saying that Bollywood was more creative than Hollywood. India turns out about 1,000 films in 12 languages each year. No Indian film has ever won an Oscar, although ‘Mother India’ and Lagaan have been nominated. Bachchan, who is currently visiting Britain to receive several awards, said that he did not believe an Indian film winning an Oscar was the "ultimate recognition for any great film" more When-Shabanas-dream-came-true Shabana Azmi's excitement knew no bounds when she received the prestigious International Gandhi Peace Prize in the House of Commons in London from her "all-time favourite actor Vanessa Redgrave". Speaking from London Shabana could barely contain her joy. "It's not just the prestige attached to the award. It's who gave me the prize. I received my award from Vanessa Redgrave who's one of my absolute all-time favourite actors from the entire universe. To get the award from her was a dream-come-true." Shabana was supposed to be accompanied to the House of Commons for the award ceremony on Thursday evening by her husband Javed Akhtar. "But Javed was suddenly held back for some important work. Now I'm f more And-the-AB-SRK-war-continues What happens when two titans come face to face in the competitive arena in Bollywood? Fire works, ego clashes and a war of words is inevitable. Like the Amitabh Bachchan-Shah Rukh Khan war which was one of the biggest star wars first reported in July, 2005. It was alleged that whatever Amitabh did, Shah Rukh wanted to do the same, but bigger and better. Even if it meant doing a remake of the Amitabh Bachchan hit Don or endorsing the same brands as Big B or working with the same banners, SRK did not shy away from the opportunity to match footsteps with the stalwart. With Shah Rukh Khan taking over the KBC mantle from Amitabh Bachchan, their war has reached another level. All this and more, when the two vehemently deny any such more |
