Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan to receive Locarno Film Festival career award

Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan will receive an Honorary Leopard achievement award at the Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland, in recognition of his outstanding career in Indian cinema spanning more than 100 films “in a breathtaking multitude of genres,” announced the festival in a press release on Tuesday.

Khan, who is popularly known in India as ‘King Khan’, will be honoured on August 10.

The Swiss festival will screen his 2022 love triangle drama ‘Devdas’ – in which Khan played the lead character, followed by an onstage conversation on August 11.

“To welcome a living legend like Shah Rukh Khan in Locarno is a dream come true,” Giona A. Nazzaro, Artistic Director of the Locarno Film Festival, was quoted as saying in the press statement.

“The wealth and breadth of his contribution to Indian cinema is unprecedented.

“Khan is a king who has never lost touch with the audience that crowned him. This brave and daring artist has always been willing to challenge himself while remaining true to what his fans all over the world eagerly expect from his films. A true ‘people’s hero’, sophisticated and down to earth, Shah Rukh Khan is a legend of our times.”

‘Devdas’ scored a BAFTA nomination and screened at the Cannes Film Festival – marking the first time many Western audience members were exposed to mainstream Bollywood.

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Khan’s breakout role was in the romantic thriller ‘Baazigar’ (1993), followed with the romantic drama, ‘Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge’ (1995) and ‘Kuch Kuch Hota Hai’ (1998).

Khan is still one of the most highly-paid actors in Bollywood, and his films still break box-office records. Last year, Khan beat his own record at the box office as his film ‘Jawan’ overtook ‘Pathaan’ to become the best-performing Indian film of 2023.

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Khan was included among the Variety500 list of top 500 global entertainment business leaders in 2023.

He has been bestowed with the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and Légion d’honneur by the Government of France, as well as a Padma Shri by the Government of India.