Michael Douglas dubs Shah Rukh Khan’s Om Shanti Om as his ‘favorite’ film; says Irrfan Khan’s The Lunchbox is ‘special’

Michael Douglas became the recipient of the Satyajit Ray Lifetime Achievement Award.

By Bollywood Hungama News Network -

November 30, 2023 - 11:59 AM IST

The 54th edition of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) was hosted in Goa from November 20th to 28th. Hollywood veteran actor Michael Douglas became the recipient of the Satyajit Ray Lifetime Achievement Award. His wife, actress Catherine Zeta-Jones also accompanied him to India and was one of the guests at the event. Previous recipients of this award include Martin Scorsese, Wong Kar-wai, Bernardo Bertolucci, Dilip Kumar, Carlos Saura, and Krzysztof Zanussi.

Michael Douglas dubs Shah Rukh Khan’s Om Shanti Om as his ‘favorite’ film; says Irrfan Khan’s The Lunchbox is ‘special’

During media interactions, as reported by Republic, Michael Douglas said, “Om Shanti Om left a big impression on me. It is a family film. It’s completely unique onto itself; style in rap and attitude, with incredible technique and talent. Its choreography is spectacular and there’s nothing literally like it in the rest of the world.”

Reflecting on how meaningful the award is, Douglas said, “When I was studying in the University of California, I was taking a film course, and one of the directors I studied was Satyajit Ray. This was about 1963-64.” During his speech at the event, Douglas said that he had watched RRR. He shared that Shah Rukh Khan's Om Shanti Om is a favourite in his household. He also said that Irrfan Khan’s The Lunchbox is special for him.

Speaking at the press conference, Michael added, “I think one of the strengths of IFFI is that it had so many foreign films’ participation. One of the best things about this profession is that movies share the same (emotional) language. Audiences from around the world can understand what is going on the screen. Indian films are known across the world, and streaming plays a big role in it.”

Speaking to the media at IFFI, as per ANI, even Catherine Zeta-Jones said, “I love the country and the people so very much. I am a big fan of Indian Cinema. My children have grown up watching Om Shanti Om on a loop! Not just once… There are so many great movies that I have been able to watch, not much as I should have but now with streaming and film being crossing so much... A movie that I love was The Lunchbox. It was one of my favourite movies and it still is one of my favourite movies of all time. It touched me; it was so well acted, so well directed. It was a story that was so fundamentally Indian but it connected to men and women all over the world. It connected to me as a woman. I watched it on an airplane twice! I asked my agent if I could meet him in person and I did and that was really special.”

Om Shanti Om, starring Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone in the leads, was helmed by Farah Khan. It was released in 2007. Whereas The Lunchbox, directed by Ritesh Batra, was headlined by Irrfan Khan and Nimrat Kaur and released in 2013.