On Saturday night, the “King Khan” reigned supreme in the Piazza Grande, the iconic grand square in the center of the picturesque Swiss city of Locarno. Bollywood icon Shah Rukh Khan brought his global celebrity to the 77th edition of the Locarno Film Festival by accepting a lifetime achievement award, the Pardo alla Carriera, or Career Leopard.
Fans, including those sitting in the 8,000 seats on the square and more in various locations around, gave the star of films like Panthane, Donation 2 And Om Shanti Om A thunderous ovation and loud applause. Even when the big cinema screen in the square showed for the first time her arrival on the red carpet at around 9:20 p.m. local time and her handshake with Locarno’s artistic director, Giona A. Nazzaro, a cheer ran through the crowd.
Shortly before 10 p.m., the screen played a video of highlights from several of Khan’s films, which drew constant cheers and other ecstatic reactions.
A few minutes later, the star took to the stage to cheers, applause and cries of “I love you!” He received his honorary Golden Leopard from Nazarro and thanked him and the evening’s host, Sandy Altermatt, also known for her work as a presenter on Swiss television.
Khan explained to the audience how heavy the award was, prompting laughter. Sweating from the heat, he also told the excited crowd that he was happy to be in Locarno in a crowded square, and that he was honored to be in Locarno, a “very beautiful, very cultural, very artistic and extremely hot city with so many people crammed into a small square and so hot.” He then joked: “It’s like being at home in India.”
He also thanked the crowd, saying, “Ladies and gentlemen, I want to thank you all for welcoming me with such wide open arms, bigger than the ones I do on screen.” He held his arms out to applaud. And he added, “I love you all.”
Khan continued to show his fun-loving side on stage, promising to deliver a more serious speech. “This is the Locarno Film Festival. We all have to look intellectual,” he joked before saying a few words in Italian to his fans in the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland. “The food was good. My Italian is improving, and so is my cooking,” he added before explaining. “For those who don’t understand Italian, that means I can cook pasta and pizza.”
On a more serious note, the megastar said, “I truly believe that cinema is the most profound and influential artistic medium of our time. I have had the privilege of being a part of it for many years, and that journey has taught me a few lessons that I would like to share with you.” Among them, “art is, above all, the act of affirming life.”
Khan then expressed his gratitude for his career and fans and drew more laughter by saying, “For 35 years, I’ve been working. I’ve been a villain. I’ve been a champion. I’ve been a superhero. I’ve been a zero. I’ve been a detective fan, and…
Discover more from The Times Of Update
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
