Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan will be honoured by the Locarno Film Festival with its Honorary Leopard achievement award in recognition of his outstanding career in Indian cinema spanning more than 100 films “in a breathtaking multitude of genres,” it announced on Tuesday.
Khan, who is known in India as “King Khan,” will be making the trek to receive the award on Aug. 10 on the Swiss fest’s 8,000-seat Piazza Grande open-air venue where his 2022 love triangle drama “Devdas” – in which Khan plays the titular character, a tragic romantic alcoholic – will screen, followed by an onstage conversation on Aug.
11. “Devdas,” which scored a BAFTA nomination and won numerous Indian awards, marked the first time many Western audience members were exposed to mainstream Bollywood. “To welcome a living legend like Shah Rukh Kahn in Locarno is a dream come true!” said Locarno artistic director Giona A.
Nazzaro in a statement. Nazzaro went on to praise Kahn as “a king who has never lost touch with the audience that crowned him,” adding that “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.” Born in 1965 in New Delhi, Khan’s breakout role came with the romantic thriller “Baazigar” (1993), which he starred as a murderous but sympathetic anti-hero on a quest for vengeance.
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