MUMBAI: The Asian Film Foundation felicitated Amitabh Bachchan with the the Asian Film Culture Award on 7 December.

Producer-director Ramesh Sippy was the chief guest of the evening. Other dignitaries present on the occasion were Asian Film Foundation chairman Kiran Shantaram, Festival director Sudhir Nandgoankar and Abhishek Bachchan.

The Asian Film Festival aims to bridge the gap between the Asian Film fraternities and promote Asian cinema. This award is given each year to a master of Asian Cinema, alternatively to an Indian and a non-Indian stalwart.

Amitabh Bachchan was voted the star of the millennium in a BBC news poll, ahead of such luminaries as Charlie Chaplin, Sir Lawerence Olivier and Marlon Brando.

With a success record so consistent, over a period of time, Bachchan has come to symbolize the Indian film industry to viewers in the country abroad.

Bachchan has won many major awards including 3 National Film Awards and 12 Filmfare Awards. He holds the record for most number of best actor nominations at Filmfare Awards.

Previous recipients of the Asian Film Culture Award have been personalities like
Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Park Kwang - su, Tapan Sinha, Majid Majidi, Kanneto Shindo, Mrinal Sen and Lester Junes Peries.