King of Bollywood Shah Rukh Khan
received an honorary doctorate from the University of Bedfordshire on Friday in a glittering ceremony in London.
Mr Khan was presented with an honorary doctorate in Arts and Culture in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the arts, culture and media.
Reading Mr Khan’s citation, University of Bedfordshire Deputy Vice Chancellor (External Relations) Ashraf Jawaid, said: “We are truly delighted to present this award to Shah Rukh Khan. He has a huge fan base across the globe and has made an outstanding contribution to the arts, culture and media which is recognised around the world.”
Scores of distinguished guests packed The Washington Hotel to witness the special ceremony, including the High Commissioner of India to the UK Mr Shiv Shankar Mukherjee.
On receiving the award Doctor Khan said: “I was thrilled to be nominated for this award and feel honoured to receive it from the University of Bedfordshire which is a marvellous institution.
“I am a great follower of education and I would like to use this award and my position as an actor to help deserving children go on to further education, be it financially or in some other way.”
University of Bedfordshire Vice Chancellor Les Ebdon CBE, who spoke about the “fantastic year” the University had enjoyed, said he hoped Doctor Khan would visit the University soon and invited him to open the new state-of-the art student centre in Luton next year.
Doctor Khan was nominated for the honorary doctorate by Routes 2 Roots, a non-governmental organisation which endeavours to bring together people, cultures and values from across southern Asia, in particular India and Pakistan.
Secretary Routes 2 Roots Rakesh Gupta, said: “We nominated Shah Rukh Khan for this honour because he is not only an entertainer and the King of the Indian film industry but he is also a philanthropist who has been silently working for the betterment of the underprivileged.”
Doctor Khan started his career in the late 1980s appearing in several television serials. He made his film debut with the commercially successful Deewana in 1992 and since then has gone on to play a variety of critically acclaimed roles.
He has won seven Filmfare Best Actor Awards and appeared in films such as Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge (1995), Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998), Chak De India (2007) and Om Shanti Om (2007) and Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi (2008) which remain some of Bollywood’s biggest hits.
Films such as Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham (2001), Veer Zaara (2004) and Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna (2006) have been hits overseas making Shahrukh one of the most successful actors of Hindi cinema. Since 2000 Shahrukh has branched out into film production and television presenting.
He is married with two children. In April 2007 a life-size wax statue of him was unveiled at Madame Tussauds in London. During the same year, he was accorded the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Order of the Arts and Literature) award by the French government for his “exceptional career”.
Mr Khan was presented with an honorary doctorate in Arts and Culture in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the arts, culture and media.
Reading Mr Khan’s citation, University of Bedfordshire Deputy Vice Chancellor (External Relations) Ashraf Jawaid, said: “We are truly delighted to present this award to Shah Rukh Khan. He has a huge fan base across the globe and has made an outstanding contribution to the arts, culture and media which is recognised around the world.”
Scores of distinguished guests packed The Washington Hotel to witness the special ceremony, including the High Commissioner of India to the UK Mr Shiv Shankar Mukherjee.
On receiving the award Doctor Khan said: “I was thrilled to be nominated for this award and feel honoured to receive it from the University of Bedfordshire which is a marvellous institution.
“I am a great follower of education and I would like to use this award and my position as an actor to help deserving children go on to further education, be it financially or in some other way.”
University of Bedfordshire Vice Chancellor Les Ebdon CBE, who spoke about the “fantastic year” the University had enjoyed, said he hoped Doctor Khan would visit the University soon and invited him to open the new state-of-the art student centre in Luton next year.
Doctor Khan was nominated for the honorary doctorate by Routes 2 Roots, a non-governmental organisation which endeavours to bring together people, cultures and values from across southern Asia, in particular India and Pakistan.
Secretary Routes 2 Roots Rakesh Gupta, said: “We nominated Shah Rukh Khan for this honour because he is not only an entertainer and the King of the Indian film industry but he is also a philanthropist who has been silently working for the betterment of the underprivileged.”
Doctor Khan started his career in the late 1980s appearing in several television serials. He made his film debut with the commercially successful Deewana in 1992 and since then has gone on to play a variety of critically acclaimed roles.
He has won seven Filmfare Best Actor Awards and appeared in films such as Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge (1995), Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998), Chak De India (2007) and Om Shanti Om (2007) and Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi (2008) which remain some of Bollywood’s biggest hits.
Films such as Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham (2001), Veer Zaara (2004) and Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna (2006) have been hits overseas making Shahrukh one of the most successful actors of Hindi cinema. Since 2000 Shahrukh has branched out into film production and television presenting.
He is married with two children. In April 2007 a life-size wax statue of him was unveiled at Madame Tussauds in London. During the same year, he was accorded the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Order of the Arts and Literature) award by the French government for his “exceptional career”.
Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan can now call himself "doctor" after being honoured in the United Kingdom for his contribution to arts and culture.
Bedfordshire University conferred the doctorate upon him at a ceremony in London on Friday night.
Khan said he aimed to use the award to help educate underprivileged children.
The actor, who has starred in dozens of films, already has his own waxwork at Madame Tussaud's and has previously been honoured in France and Malaysia.
'Top' award
Khan was able to joke about becoming a doctor after frequent surgery in the past few years, most recently on his shoulder five months ago.
"Interestingly my kids don't understand this doctorate and believe I will be awarded a stethoscope," he joked at the degree ceremony.
The star was awarded the doctorate at a top London hotel instead of on university premises north of London because of the summer break.
The university received his nomination from Routes 2 Roots, an NGO that works towards people-to-people contact across the subcontinent, especially India and Pakistan.
Accepting the honour, Khan said he had received numerous awards as an actor but being given an honorary doctorate was the top achievement.
The actor left one of Delhi's top schools with the best student award - but never finished a masters degree.
So how did he feel about receiving the honour?
"I get the feeling that I should further the cause of those underprivileged children who don't get the opportunity to educate themselves,'' he said, quickly adding that he should perhaps begin with his own children who are "highly uneducated as of now".
The 43-year-old also added he was most scared of mathematics as a child, and intended to make sure his children were good at the subject.
Khan also joked that he might get to keep his university robes: "I have sweated in them - [they] can't be returned unless I dry clean them."
The ceremony was also attended by the famously barefoot Indian painter MF Hussain and British film maker Gurinder Chadha.
Other Indian stars to have been given honorary doctorates in the UK include Amitabh Bachchan, Shilpa Shetty, Akshay Kumar and AR Rahman.
Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan can now call himself "doctor" after being honoured in the United Kingdom for his contribution to arts and culture.
Bedfordshire University conferred the doctorate upon him at a ceremony in London on Friday night.
Khan said he aimed to use the award to help educate underprivileged children.
The actor, who has starred in dozens of films, already has his own waxwork at Madame Tussaud's and has previously been honoured in France and Malaysia.
'Top' award
Khan was able to joke about becoming a doctor after frequent surgery in the past few years, most recently on his shoulder five months ago.
"Interestingly my kids don't understand this doctorate and believe I will be awarded a stethoscope," he joked at the degree ceremony.
The star was awarded the doctorate at a top London hotel instead of on university premises north of London because of the summer break.
The university received his nomination from Routes 2 Roots, an NGO that works towards people-to-people contact across the subcontinent, especially India and Pakistan.
Accepting the honour, Khan said he had received numerous awards as an actor but being given an honorary doctorate was the top achievement.
The actor left one of Delhi's top schools with the best student award - but never finished a masters degree.
So how did he feel about receiving the honour?
"I get the feeling that I should further the cause of those underprivileged children who don't get the opportunity to educate themselves,'' he said, quickly adding that he should perhaps begin with his own children who are "highly uneducated as of now".
The 43-year-old also added he was most scared of mathematics as a child, and intended to make sure his children were good at the subject.
Khan also joked that he might get to keep his university robes: "I have sweated in them - [they] can't be returned unless I dry clean them."
The ceremony was also attended by the famously barefoot Indian painter MF Hussain and British film maker Gurinder Chadha.
Other Indian stars to have been given honorary doctorates in the UK include Amitabh Bachchan, Shilpa Shetty, Akshay Kumar and AR Rahman.
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