Farah Khan to be feted in Cairo

Choreographer-director Farah Khan will be honoured with the Faten Hamama Award for excellence in cinema at the 37th Cairo International Film Festival (CIFF). Her 2007 film "Om Shanti Om", starring Shah Rukh Khan, will also be screened there.

"I feel that it's an honour for the Indian film industry to take our movie or a director to give an award at an international film festival. I think it's great for the entire industry.

"In Egypt, they love our hardcore commercial Bollywood films and I think there is no better example than 'Om Shanti Om'. They are premiering it over there. Also, I represent the women of our country and in that way, it's a dual award," Farah told IANS over phone from Mumbai.

She will be honoured on Wednesday and the movie will get a special screening outside the venue.

Asked how special "Om Shanti Om" is for her, Farah said: "All my movies are special for me. I think 'Om Shanti Om' somewhere down the years, stands for the quintessential Bollywood film.

"It is special for me in many ways. I was pregnant with my babies and shooting at the same time. Also, it was a very happy time as the whole industry came to do a song in the film. It was my most critically acclaimed film."

Farah launched actress Deepika Padukone with the 2007 film, which is based on reincarnation.

Produced by Shah Rukh's wife Gauri Khan, "Om Shanti Om" also features Arjun Rampal, Shreyas Talpade and Kirron Kher.

Over 40 Hindi movie stars appear in the course of the film, including 30 of them in the "Deewangi deewangi" song alone.

The ongoing 10-day film festival will conclude on November 20.