England goes ga ga over Big B Rashmee Roshan Lall [ 19 Jul, 2006 2351hrs IST TIMES NEWS NETWORK ]
LONDON: Amitabh Bachchan has become the first Indian film star ever to be awarded an honorary doctorate from a British university, be mentioned in a special motion in the British parliament and receive the rare honour of back-to-back meetings with at least three leading members of Prime Minister Tony Blair's government.
On Wednesday, Big B received the ultimate academic felicitation and the chance to call himself 'Dr Bachchan' with the so-called modern British university, De Montfort in Leicester, conferring an honorary doctorate of the arts on the actor.
Bachchan's spokesman Alan Simpson told TOI on Wednesday that Big B was "delighted" by this very "real honour". The Early Day Motion (EDM), signed so far by 100 MPs and counting, commends Bachchan's "towering contribution to Indian cinema" and recognises his remarkable achievement in sweeping 10 Filmfare awards, the 1999 BBC Online moniker of "the millennium's biggest star" and his now-passe role as a member of the Lok Sabha.
The motion, moved at Westminster by Goan British MP Keith Vaz, whose Leicester East constituency is suffering paroxysms of excitement over Bachchan's visit, is a British parliamentary device tabled by MPs to call for a debate on a particular subject.
In practice, veteran MPs admit to this paper, that there is rarely time to debate EDMs nowadays and their true modern-day purpose is to enable MPs to draw attention to an issue and to canvass support for their views by inviting other Members to add their signatures in support of the motion.
Members of Bachchan's entourage in the UK, which includes wife Jaya and daughter Shweta, said the Bollywood star was deeply conscious of the rare honour of having an EDM dedicated to him.
Officials of De Montfort University added to this paper that "Amitabh Bachchan is a well-known figure in the creative industries and his energy and professionalism will be an inspiration to our graduates and students across the board, and especially to those wishing to pursue careers in this sector."
Privately, they admitted their honouring of the Big B had much to do with their ongoing drive to get on to the news agenda, highlight their commitment to the creative industries and push for more Indian students.
Bachchan, who is in Britain for the rest of the week, is understood to be confident about his skills in representing the Indian view of last week's Mumbai blasts in the corridors of British power, notably when he meets former foreign secretary Jack Straw, education secretary Alan Johnson and foreign office minister Geoff Hoon on Friday. But interestingly, Bachchan's aides were unable to specify any official felicitation of the actor by the Indian High Commission, in what many read as an oversight with possibly political dimensions