All in the family: Legion D’Honneur ceremony (Hindu.com)

Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan was honored last week when the French government presented him with the [1] Legion D’Honneur.

The award was given to Bachchan at the French Embassy in New Delhi by Ambassador Dominique Girard (who called the actor a “[2] towering personality” and the “number-one actor of Indian cinema”).

“It fills me with great pride,” Bachchan said during his acceptance speech. “India has arrived on the global cinema stage, the carping critics have been silenced, and the cynicism about the Hindi film industry has given way to world-wide appreciation.”

Bachchan is the [3] fourth Indian national to be recognized (fellow recipients are Satyajit Ray, environmentalist R.K. Pachauri and musician Ravi Shankar).

The Legion d’Honneur was instituted in 1802 by Napoleon Bonaparte and is considered France’s [4] highest civilian honor.