KOZHIKODE: The Doctor of Letters degree was conferred on Mammootty, freedom fighter Lakshmi Sehgal and historian Irfan Habib by Calicut University at the convocation held on the university campus on Thursday.
Governor of Kerala and Chancellor of the university R S Gavai conferred the DLitt on them. In the absence of Lakshmi and Habib, their nominees G Chandrasekharan and V Kunhali respectively received the honorary degrees on their behalf.
Addressing the convocation, the governor said that by honouring the 'veterans', the university was honouring itself, besides highlighting them as light houses for the younger generation to look up to for guidance and inspiration. Gavai said that Captain Lakshmi had earned herself the halo of a legend by her heroic acts for the freedom of the country.
He addressed Habib as a historian of international repute, who was admired for his keen sense of proportion and propriety. Mammootty was mentioned as a multilingual artiste, who, through an evocative style of acting had won several laurels. The Governor specially mentioned the actor's sensitive picturisation of Ambedkar in the biographical film by Jabbar Patel.
In his acceptance speech, Mammootty said, "It is indeed a great pleasure to receive the honour and I am well aware that through me, you are paying tribute to the Malayalam film world."
The actor said that conferring the DLitt on him was a reminder of the public's faith in him and a reassurance of the role that art and artistes had in society.
ViceChancellor of Calicut University Anwar Jahan Zuberi introduced the personalities in the presence of first lady of the state Kamaltai Gavai.
The chancellor said that Lakshmi represented the progressive, secular and democratic traditions of the country. Habib was a committed secularist and a progressive visionary, both in his scholastic activities and his social interventions, she said. Zuberi introduced the Malayalam actor as a veritable icon of contemporary Malayalam cinema for whom acting was at once a statement of personal creativity and a channel for creating a secular outlook.