Shah Rukh Khan delivers a moving speech at the World Economic Forum 2018
Mumbai: Superstar Shah Rukh Khan has said he feels honoured to receive the 24th Crystal Award along side Elton John and Cate Blanchett.
The Annual Crystal Awards ceremony, which opens the World Economic Forum summit in the Swiss ski resort, celebrates the achievements of outstanding artists who have shown exemplary commitment to improving the state of the world.
"Honoured to receive the World Economic Forum's 24th Crystal Award, together with Elton John and Cate Blanchett. My fan moment," Shah Rukh tweeted after receiving the honour.
Honoured to receive the @wef’s 24th Crystal Award, together with @eltonofficial and Cate Blanchett. My fan moment!!
— Shah Rukh Khan (@iamsrk) January 22, 2018
Watch the #crystalawards via https://t.co/rILPgHRgtL at the #wef18 meeting in Davos.
During his acceptance speech, Shah Rukh thanked the women in his life especially sister Shehnaz Lalarukh Khan, wife Gauri Khan and daughter Suhana Khan for helping him see the world in a different way.
Shah Rukh said, “Actors are renowned narcissists. No matter how much we pretend to not to believe in external beauty, we tend to be obsessed by it, one way or another. Perhaps being surrounded by this obsession of beauty, a few years ago I came across a lady who had been brutalized by an acid attack and it kind of changed my life, or the perspective of it at least. To disfigure a woman by throwing acid on her face, to me, is one of the crudest acts of subjugation imaginable.”
Shah Rukh also spoke about his interactions with the victims of acid attack and said that he had learnt “how courage can catalyse victimhood into heroism, how solidarity rather than charity enables the human will to overcome, how equality is not a concept, but a truth that encompasses all living beings and how the service of others is not a choice anymore for any of us. It is a duty that all of us must fulfill,” from them.
He also mentioned his youngest son AbRam in the speech and gave an analogy about the need to reverse power. He also added, “I want to thank my sister, my wife and my little daughter for bringing me up well and teaching me the value of requesting, sometimes imploring and begging a yes from a woman, instead of forcing it upon her.”
SRK received the award for "his leadership in championing children's and women's rights in India," the World Economic Forum (WEF) said.
The past awardees from India include Amitabh Bachchan, Mallika Sarabhai, A R Rahman, Shabana Azmi, Ravi Shankar and Amjad Ali Khan.
