So hot, it’s like being at home in India: Shah Rukh charms Locarno film fest

Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan was his usual charming and witty self at the 77th Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland, where he received the prestigious Pardo alla Carriera Award-Locarno Tourism, or 'career leopard', for his contribution to cinema. Italian filmmaker Francesco Rosi, American singer-actor Harry Belafonte, and Malaysian director Tsai Ming-Liang have been previous recipients of the award.

The 58-year-old Shah Rukh, the first Indian to be conferred the honour, was presented with the award at the Piazza Grande square packed with an 8,000-strong crowd on Saturday evening.

In his acceptance speech, Shah Rukh thanked the audience and Locarno Film Festival's artistic director, Giona A. Nazzaro, for their warm welcome. "I want to thank you all for welcoming me with such wide (open) arms, wider than the ones I do on screen, to this really pretty, very beautiful, cultural, artistic, and extremely hot city of Locarno. So many people stuffed in a little square and so hot, it's just like being at home in India. Thank you so much for having me here, it's been a wonderful last two evenings, everybody, including Nazzaro..." he said.

"They have been wonderful, the food has been nice, my Italian is improving and so has my cooking. I can cook pasta and pizza, and also I'm learning (Italian) here in Locarno," he added.

Cinema, Shah Rukh said, is the "most profound and influential artistic medium of our age".

"Art is the act of affirming life above all. It transcends every manmade boundary into a space of liberation. It doesn't need to be political, polemical, or even moralising. Art and cinema only need to express their truth from the heart."

Referring to several of his films wherein he has played a "champ, a superhero, a zero, a dejected fan, and a very, very resilient lover", Shah Rukh said he feels encouraged after being feted at the film gala.

"I normally don't go out for occasions like this, I don't know how to relate to people or how to talk to them, I just know how to act a little bit, not too much. But I'm here tonight and I feel extremely encouraged by the Locarno Film Festival's 77th edition. I wish you all the best."

Less than a minute into his address, Shah Rukh was interrupted by an audience member's screaming declaration of love, to which he responded with an "I love you also".

He quipped that all romantic interludes were welcome after the speech because at the Locarno Film Festival "we all need to sound intellectual".

Lifting the trophy, the actor admitted that he can't pronounce the name of the award. After the host showed him how to pronounce the Pardo alla Carriera Award-Locarno Tourism, Shah Rukh joked: "Which in English means the leopard award for being the most awesome in the world and the history of mankind."

According to the festival, the Pardo alla Carriera Ascona-Locarno Tourism pays tribute to one or more personalities whose artistic contributions have redefined cinema and the collective imagination. "Next year around, if you call me Nazzaro, can you keep a shorter name?" he asked the artistic director of the festival.

The actor said he accepted the award with humility, kindness, and goodness. "... and with the promise that awards like this encourage me to keep trying to embody all the facets of life, emotions, and to try to give that one more take, one more shot, one more emotion.

"Hopefully, a little bit of love so that all of you feel a little joyful in a square like this, 8,000 of you, watching the next film which you are going to watch tonight. I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart and from India," he said, before wrapping up his speech with "namaskar, dhanyavaad, and God bless you all".

In recognition of his career, the festival also screened Shah Rukh's 2002 hit Devdas, directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali.

Shah Rukh, who has enjoyed stardom for over three decades in the Hindi film industry with hits such as Darr, Baazigar, Dil To Pagal Hai, Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, Devdas, and Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, returned to the big screen after a five-year gap in 2023 with the smash hit Pathaan, following up the blockbuster actioner with back-to-back releases: the action hit Jawan and the social drama Dunki.