Megastar Amitabh Bachchan was on Wednesday conferred with the 'Icon of Golden Jubilee Award' for his outstanding contribution in Indian cinema at 50th International Film Festival.
Bollywood's Shahenshah was given the coveted award by his close friend and colleague from the fraternity, Rajinikanth, who was also honoured with the same in the presence of Union Minister Prakash Javadekar and Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant.
The actor who has worked in almost 190 Indian films in a career spanning five decades gave the credit of his successful line of work and the award to his fans other than his parents and people who have worked with him.
"I express my hearty gratitude for inviting and honouring me with this prestigious award at this event. This is blessings of my parents, the immense dedication of my directors, producers and music directors that I am standing in front of you people today, however, my fans deserve the most acknowledgement who were there during my lows and highs," said Big B.
While expressing his gratitude, the megastar also thanked South Indian superstar Rajinikanth for always being with him.
"I would also like to thank the government of Goa and my very dear friend and actor Rajinikanth, who I consider a member of my family," said Bachchan
Jokingly, the actor added, "we both keep on bantering and advising each other, which we don't take. I feel relationships are made of this. Thank you, Rajni for being with me as an incredible source of inspiration."
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In the end, the Bachchan, who has won numerous accolades including Dadasaheb Phalke Award said, "I have no words to express my gratitude to IFFI for honouring me today and also for having a retrospective of my films which will be starting tomorrow. I am very grateful for all."
Earlier in the day, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar, Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and actors Amitabh Bachchan, Rajinikanth marked their presence at the inauguration of 50th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Panaji.
IFFI 2019 will showcase over 200 films from 76 countries, which includes 26 feature films and 15 non-feature films in the Indian panorama section. John Bailey, cinematographer and former President of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences will head the International Jury of IFFI.
The award ceremony will take place on Nov 29.