Visit by Amitabh Bachchan

Mr Bachchan was received by Oxford’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Andrew Hamilton. In their meeting Mr Bachchan, the Vice Chancellor, and the Director of the OCHS, Mr Shaunaka Rishi Das, discussed the historic links between India and Oxford, which continue to this day with initiatives in the sciences, development studies, medical research, and the emerging field of Hindu Studies.

 

Mr Bachchan responded to the OCHS Distinguished Ford Lecture at the Examination Schools, given this year by Rachel Dwyer, Professor of Indian Cultures and Cinema at SOAS, University of London. Prof. Dwyer expanded upon Mr Bachchan’s career focussing on the use of emotion, particularly anger, and how that may be changing in modern Indian cinema. It was the first time in Oxford that an academic discussion of Hindi cinema was met with a response by one of its most successful actors.

 

After the lecture Mr Bachchan was the guest of honour at a formal dinner at Trinity College.