Bollywood star Jaya Bachchan was last night honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the ‘Tongues on Fire’ London Asian Film Festival 2010 at BAFTA, London. The star, who was visibly moved by the accolade, thanked Dr Pushpinder Chowdhry, Founder of the festival and award presenter Lady Kishwar Desai. Jaya Bachchan said “I really feel I have not done enough to deserve such recognition – I can’t sing and I can’t dance. So to have been recognised in this way, in a foreign country, it really is the most special award I have received.” In attendance at the presentation were her husband, Amitabh Bachchan, her son Abhishek Bachchan and daughter-in-law Aishwarya Rai-Bachchan – a Bollywood acting dynasty. ‘Tongues on Fire’ is celebrating the actress’ work through a special ‘Jaya Bachchan Retrospective’ from 5-14 March 2010 in London.

Earlier at BAFTA, her son Abhishek Bachchan was on stage in ‘An Interview with’ style event where he acknowledged the tremendous support of his mother and father and his bride, Aishwarya. There were video clips from his movies including Mani Ratnam’s ‘Yuva’, ‘Dostana’ and Karan Johar’s ‘Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna’ among others. Bachchan made his debut with Refugee (2000). In 2004 the actor delivered a hit performance in the film ‘Dhoom’, followed by ‘Yuva’. His performance in the latter was critically acclaimed and he received several awards, including his first Filmfare Award as Best Supporting Actor - an award that he would win for the two next years. He then went on to receive his first Filmfare Nomination as Best Actor in ‘Bunty Aur Babli’ (2005), in‘Guru’ (2007) which emerged as his first solo big hit and ‘Dostana’ (2008). Abhishek has joined many Bollywood actors that have ventured into producing films. His fist shot at production was for the Hindi film ‘Paa’ in he also starred as the father to a character played by his real-life father!

About Tongues on Fire

‘Tongues on Fire’ (TOF) is a film festival dedicated to expressing the drive and spirit of the Independent Media and Cinema of South Asia. Founding Directors Pushpinder Chowdhry and Harvinder Nath began the Festival in 1999 with the aim of using film as a way of empowering women, particularly those in communities who seldom visit the cinema. The majority of the films shown are seen as 'independent' or 'arthouse' cinema, as opposed to more popular 'Bollywood' films.