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.
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“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 Khan 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. A few years later he was propelled to superstardom on the back of romantic drama, “Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge” (1995) and the love-story “Kuch Kuch Hota Hai” (1998). “At the same time, the enormity of this newfound fame did not deter Khan from taking on roles that were different and much ahead of their time,” such as Rahul in “Darr” (1993), a romantic psychological thriller directed by Yash Chopra; and as a journalist who falls in love with a terrorist in the epic “Dil Se..” (1998) by Mani Ratnam, according to the Locarno profile. The fest’s statement also noted that “In the subsequent two decades, Khan’s career would feature high-profile collaborations with some of India’s most prominent directors and stars leading to tremendous recognition internationally as well.”
Khan was included among the PvNew500 list of top 500 global entertainment business leaders in 2023 when, after a five-year hiatus following a spate of box-office underperformers, during which he only appeared in cameos, he made a roaring comeback with the two biggest hits of the year — “Pathaan” and “Jawan,” the latter produced by Red Chillies Entertainment, the production company and VFX house he co-founded. In the process, PvNew noted that the great romantic star of the modern era “reinvented himself as an action hero.” Khan also co-owns the Indian Premier League cricket team Kolkata Knight Riders and the Caribbean Premier League team Trinbago Knight Riders.
Previous recipients of Locarno’s Honorary Leopard include Tsai Ming-liang, Francesco Rosi, Claudia Cardinale, Johnnie To, Harry Belafonte, Mario Adorf, Jane Birkin, and Costa-Gavras.
The 77th edition of Locarno will run Aug. 7-17.
