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The apartment of the Speaker of the House of Commons in the U.K. has hosted dignitaries like Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, Aung San Suu Kyi and Nelson Mandela. Now Amitabh Bachchan is the first Indian actor to be invited there. Wednesday, he received the Global Diversity Award, whose previous winners include Rev. Jesse Jackson and Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton.
Mr. Bachchan, you deserve a decent audience, even if we were in a room six times the size of this room, it would still be full, John Bercow, speaker of the House of Commons, said as he presented the award.
The dimly lit dining room where the ceremony took place is plastered with huge portraits of former speakers looking down from the walls. Ornate light stands and furniture make the room resemble the setting of a period drama.
Mr. Bercow said Mr. Bachchan, who has appeared in more than 180 films including 1970s Bollywood classics Sholay, Deewar and Don, deserved the award given how popular he is in the U.K., India and elsewhere.
British actor Hugh Grant joked that he Googled Mr. Bachchans name.
I am frankly quite angry about him. He is gigantic. He is superhumanly popular, loved, adored for his films. And not only is he a film legend but he is also a saint. He has done all these amazing things for things like diabetes or AIDS or animal welfare, Mr. Grant said in a speech.
There is also some stuff about injured film technicians, I mean, who cares about them? the actor added.
After receiving the award, Mr. Bachchan spoke of his connection with the U.K. The 70-year-old said his father was one of the first Indians to have a PhD from Cambridge University.
He also spoke about diversity and films. When we sit down inside a darkened hall to watch a film, we never ask the creed, caste, color of the person sitting next to us. We watch the same film, we laugh at the same jokes, we sing the same songs, we dance on the same moves, we cry on the same emotions, he said.
There are very few institutions left in the world today that can boast of such kind of unity in diversity. And perhaps films are one such medium that brings all of us together, added Mr. Bachchan, whose latest film Satyagraha released in August.
Mr. Bachchan, who also presents Indias version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire? was the first Indian actor to have a waxwork at Madame Tussauds in London. Last year, he appeared on the streets of the U.K.s capital as he took part in the torch relay ahead of the 2012 Olympics.
There was an awkward moment at Wednesdays event, when a man during the Q&A session stood up and called Mr. Bachchan a goat. But all was fine after Mr. Bachchan asked him to explain himself. Goat means Greatest Star of All Time, the fan said.
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Amitabh Bachchan Wins U.K. Award, Gets Called a Goat - India Real Time - WSJ
The apartment of the Speaker of the House of Commons in the U.K. has hosted dignitaries like Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, Aung San Suu Kyi and Nelson Mandela. Now Amitabh Bachchan is the first Indian actor to be invited there. Wednesday, he received the Global Diversity Award, whose previous winners include Rev. Jesse Jackson and Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton.
Mr. Bachchan, you deserve a decent audience, even if we were in a room six times the size of this room, it would still be full, John Bercow, speaker of the House of Commons, said as he presented the award.
The dimly lit dining room where the ceremony took place is plastered with huge portraits of former speakers looking down from the walls. Ornate light stands and furniture make the room resemble the setting of a period drama.
Mr. Bercow said Mr. Bachchan, who has appeared in more than 180 films including 1970s Bollywood classics Sholay, Deewar and Don, deserved the award given how popular he is in the U.K., India and elsewhere.
British actor Hugh Grant joked that he Googled Mr. Bachchans name.
I am frankly quite angry about him. He is gigantic. He is superhumanly popular, loved, adored for his films. And not only is he a film legend but he is also a saint. He has done all these amazing things for things like diabetes or AIDS or animal welfare, Mr. Grant said in a speech.
There is also some stuff about injured film technicians, I mean, who cares about them? the actor added.
After receiving the award, Mr. Bachchan spoke of his connection with the U.K. The 70-year-old said his father was one of the first Indians to have a PhD from Cambridge University.
He also spoke about diversity and films. When we sit down inside a darkened hall to watch a film, we never ask the creed, caste, color of the person sitting next to us. We watch the same film, we laugh at the same jokes, we sing the same songs, we dance on the same moves, we cry on the same emotions, he said.
There are very few institutions left in the world today that can boast of such kind of unity in diversity. And perhaps films are one such medium that brings all of us together, added Mr. Bachchan, whose latest film Satyagraha released in August.
Mr. Bachchan, who also presents Indias version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire? was the first Indian actor to have a waxwork at Madame Tussauds in London. Last year, he appeared on the streets of the U.K.s capital as he took part in the torch relay ahead of the 2012 Olympics.
There was an awkward moment at Wednesdays event, when a man during the Q&A session stood up and called Mr. Bachchan a goat. But all was fine after Mr. Bachchan asked him to explain himself. Goat means Greatest Star of All Time, the fan said.
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Amitabh Bachchan Wins U.K. Award, Gets Called a Goat - India Real Time - WSJ
