HYDERABAD: King Khan of Bollywood has won laurels from across the globe but on Monday, here in the city, he was presented with a distinct award, one that turned him emotional and recall his mother.
At its sixth convocation held here, Maulana Azad National Urdu University (MANUU) conferred Shahrukh Khan and Rekhta Foundation founder and Urdu aficionado Rajiv Saraf with Honoris Causa (Doctor of letters) for their extraordinary contribution in the promotion of Urdu language and culture. The two were conferred doctorate by MANUU Chancellor Zafar Sareshwala.
"My mother would have been very happy as I am getting this honour in Hyderabad, her birthplace," said the fifty-year-old actor who received the honour at an event where 48,000 students were presented with their degrees.
Khan was earlier last year awarded with a honorary doctorate by the University of Edinburgh, Scotland.
Sareshwala said, “Shahrukh has been honoured by universities abroad also but never marked his presence at their ceremonies and was handed over those awards later. There could be no better proof of the prestige of our university that he came all the way from Mumbai to receive the honour.”
Thanking the varsity authorities for choosing him for the honour,B Shahrukh said, “I don’t know whether I deserve this award or not but getting it makes me very happy. My parents, especially my father who was very well versed in Urdu and Persian, would have been very happy had they been here to see me receiving this honour. Seeing students like you at this stage of your academic life receiving your degrees makes me feel so proud. I believe that there is nothing more important than education.”
MANUU Vice-Chancellor Mohammad Parvaiz congratulated the actor for promoting Urdu in his films. Parvaiz gave a personal touch to the programme saying he is from the same college where ShahrukhÂ’s mother received her education and it gives him immense pleasure that he could count himself as an elder to a personality like him. The programme began with an academic procession led by the MANUUÂ’s deans and officials which was joined by the recipients of Honoris Causa. All undergraduate, postgraduate, MPhil and PhD degrees were distributed to the respective students after they took the ceremonial pledge at the convocation with the V-C.
In his message to the students, Shahrukh said that at this threshold, they should go ahead and say what they think and do exactly what their heart desires without any hesitation. Grace and childlike innocence are two things which can help us set things right easily and never forget your strictest teachers as they love you the most, he said. Shahrukh also shared that Hyderabad is special to him as his mother was born in the city.