Amitabh Bachchan to receive Legion d'Honneur award

Jan 26, 2007, 17:36 GMT

New Delhi, Jan 26 (IANS) 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.

© 2007 Indo-Asian News Service