Superstar Shah Rukh Khan on Sunday credited late filmmaker and frequent collaborator Yash Chopra for bringing him to the 77th Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland, where he was honoured with the gala's prestigious Pardo alla Carriera award-Locarno Tourism Award. A day after he became the Indian film personality to receive the award for his contribution to cinema, the 58-year-old sat down for a Q&A session with Giona A Nazzaro, the artistic director of the Locarno Film Festival. It was his late mother, Shah Rukh said, who took him to a cinema hall to watch a film for the first time.
"In school, Hindi (language) was not my strongest point. My mom said, 'I'll take you to a movie hall to watch a film if you get 10 on 10 in Hindi dictation'. I think I copied one answer from a friend, but I did get 10 on 10, and then my mother took me to watch a film in a theatre for the first time," he said.
Coincidentally, the film was Chopra's 1973 thriller Joshila, added the actor. "It was called Joshila, which was of the director with whom I did maximum number for my films later on in my life. So life is connected.
Mr. Yash Chopra , it was his film. I'm sitting here in Locarno, Switzerland because of him, because of that that movie I saw.
" Veteran filmmaker Chopra directed Shah Rukh in Darr, Dil To Pagal Hai, Veer-Zaara, and his swansong Jab Tak Hai Jaan. Chopra shot his mega hit directorials Chandni and Darr in Switzerland. His son Aditya Chopra also filmed his directorial debut Dilwale Dulha.