Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan can now call himself "doctor" after
being honoured in the United Kingdom for his contribution to arts and
culture.
Bedfordshire University conferred the doctorate upon him at a ceremony
in London on Friday night.
Khan said he aimed to use the award to help educate underprivileged children.
The actor, who has starred in dozens of films, already has his own
waxwork at Madame Tussaud's and has previously been honoured in France
and Malaysia.
'Top' award
Khan was able to joke about becoming a doctor after frequent surgery
in the past few years, most recently on his shoulder five months ago.
"Interestingly my kids don't understand this doctorate and believe I
will be awarded a stethoscope," he joked at the degree ceremony.
The star was awarded the doctorate at a top London hotel instead of on
university premises north of London because of the summer break.
The university received his nomination from Routes 2 Roots, an NGO
that works towards people-to-people contact across the subcontinent,
especially India and Pakistan.
Accepting the honour, Khan said he had received numerous awards as an
actor but being given an honorary doctorate was the top achievement.
The actor left one of Delhi's top schools with the best student award
- but never finished a masters degree.
So how did he feel about receiving the honour?
"I get the feeling that I should further the cause of those
underprivileged children who don't get the opportunity to educate
themselves,'' he said, quickly adding that he should perhaps begin
with his own children who are "highly uneducated as of now".
The 43-year-old also added he was most scared of mathematics as a
child, and intended to make sure his children were good at the
subject.
Khan also joked that he might get to keep his university robes: "I
have sweated in them - [they] can't be returned unless I dry clean
them."
The ceremony was also attended by the famously barefoot Indian painter
MF Hussain and British film maker Gurinder Chadha.
Other Indian stars to have been given honorary doctorates in the UK
include Amitabh Bachchan, Shilpa Shetty, Akshay Kumar and AR Rahman.
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