QUT’s awards honorary doctorate to Mr Amitabh Bachchan

QUT’s awards honorary doctorate to Mr Amitabh Bachchan
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Queensland University of Technology (QUT) awarded the title of Doctor of the University to India’s biggest film star, Amitabh Bachchan.

QUT’s highest honorary award was conferred on Mr Bachchan at Old Government House at the Gardens Point campus, Brisbane for his outstanding contribution to creative industries over several decades.

Mr Bachchan came to QUT fresh from the set of Baz Luhrman’s latest production, The Great Gatsby, which is being shot in Sydney. The prolific Bollywood actor will be playing shady businessman Meyer Wolfsheim alongside Leonardo DiCaprio in the adaptation of F Scott Fitzgerald’s classic tale of the jazz age.

QUT Vice-Chancellor, Professor Peter Coaldrake, said Mr Bachchan was the most significant Indian film industry name to come to Australia so the potential for a mutually beneficial relationship between the Australian and Indian creative industries was enormous.

“Mr Bachchan is only the second person from India – after IT leader, Narayana Murthy – to receive such an honour from QUT,” Professor Coaldrake said.

“He embodies the theme of creative industries – a combination of performing arts and business models, which QUT has so successfully promoted.




“This will be a significant link between our Creative Industries Faculty – the first such faculty in Australia and a national leader in research, teaching and professional practice in this sector – and the Indian entertainment industry.”
Mr Bachchan said he was honoured to be recognised by QUT.

“I am truly overwhelmed and immensely pleased to be the recipient of such a distinction,” Mr Bachchan said.

“The recognition of my contribution to Indian cinema and its effort to reach out to an international community fills me with intense pride and humility – pride for being able to be a link between Australian and Indian professionals of the film and creative industries and humility for a chance to be the medium in doing so.

“May this help strengthen the existing bonds between our two countries.”
By Dipal Agarwarkar