On Saturday night, the “Khan” ruled over the Grand Place, the iconic main square in the center of the picturesque Swiss town of Locarno. Bollywood icon Shah Rukh Khan demonstrated his global star power at the 77th Locarno Film Festival and was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award, the so-called Pardo alla Carriera (Professional Leopard).
Fans, including those in the 8,000-seat concourse and at various surrounding locations, paid tribute to the movie star with tributes such as pantheon, Tang 2 and Om Shanti Om The audience burst into warm applause and thunderous applause. The crowd erupted in cheers even as the square’s big cinema screen first showed him walking on the red carpet and shaking hands with Locarno artistic director Giona A. Nazzaro at around 9:20 p.m. local time.
Just before 10pm, highlight videos from many of Khan’s films were played on the screen, eliciting cheers and other ecstatic reactions.
Minutes later, the star took to the stage to a wave of cheers, applause and screams of “I love you!” He accepted the honorary Golden Leopard from Nazzaro and thanked him and the evening’s host, Sandi Altmatt, also known for his work as a Swiss TV presenter.
Khan shared the weight of the award with the audience, eliciting bursts of laughter from the audience. Sweating due to the hot weather, he also told the excited crowd that he was very happy to come to Locarno. In a square full of people, he was honored to come to Locarno, a “very beautiful, very cultural, very Arty, very hot” Locarno. The city has so many people crammed into a small square and it’s hot. He then joked: “It’s like being at home in India.” “
He also thanked the audience, saying: “Ladies and gentlemen, I want to thank all of you for welcoming me with such broad arms – wider than my arms on screen.” He stretched out in his signature pose Cheers with arms outstretched. He added: “I love you all.”
Khan continued to show his entertainer side on stage and promised to deliver more serious speeches. “This is the Locarno Film Festival. We all need to sound intellectual,” he quipped, before saying a few words in Italian to his fans in the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland. “For those who don’t understand Italian, that means I can cook pasta and pizza.” He also shared about his trip: “The food is delicious. My Italian is improving – my cooking skills Also making progress.
The superstar said seriously: “I firmly believe that film is the most profound and influential artistic medium of our time. I have been privileged to be a part of it over the years, and this journey has taught me a few lessons that I want to share with you. Among them, “Art is first and foremost a life-affirming act. “
Khan later expressed his gratitude for his career and his fans, drawing more laughs, saying: “For 35 years, I’ve been working. I’ve been a villain. I’ve been a champion. I’ve been I’m a superhero. I’ve been a bit of a detective junkie and a very, very tough lover.
After smiling amid the cheers, the actor concluded: “I don’t usually go out on occasions like this. I don’t know how to get along with people, how to talk to them. I just know how to act a little bit – not too much many.
As part of its tribute to Locarno, the festival also screened Khan’s 2002 hit Devdas Directed by director Sanjay Leela Bhansali, the star plays an alcoholic in the film.
The 58-year-old has been a box-office champion and ambassador of Indian cinema since his breakthrough performances in Bazigal (1993) and Dilwale Dulhaniya Lejayange (1995). He also won praise for playing a man with Asperger’s syndrome in the film. my name is khan (2010) et al.
Last year, he starred in three blockbuster movies – patan, Jawan and slam dunk. According to some estimates, the action thriller JawanThe film directed by Atlee Kumar became the highest-grossing Hindi film of all time with close to $140 million.
Locarno organizers said the award “pays tribute to his extraordinary career in Indian cinema, with more than 100 films in an astonishing variety of genres.”
Nazzaro has said before timeHoure hollywood reporter “Shah Rukh Khan is the quintessential force of cinema.” He compared the star to “the pop charisma of working-class heroes like Marcello Mastroianni,” and to “people like Alain Delor. of arrogant elegance.” He concluded: “In Shah Rukh Khan, I can see the trajectory from Rudolph Valentino to Tom Cruise, and it’s all in one person.”
After presenting award to Khan, world premiere Mexico 86Guatemalan director Cesar Díaz’s new film (our mother). Starring: Bérénice Béjoartist), as a Guatemalan rebel fighting against the military dictatorship, had to leave his son behind.
During the first few minutes of the film, Khan’s fans could still be heard gathering at the far end of the red carpet away from the square, chanting “Shah Rukh Khan!” and cheering.
The 77th Locarno Film Festival will last until August 17.
