Shabana to get doctorate at Leeds University

Accolades and honours never end for veteran actress and social activist Shabana Azmi. Right now she is in Britain where Leeds University will honour her with a doctorate.

"I'm getting a doctorate from Leeds University on June 9. It's an exhilarating feeling for sure," Shabana told IANS before leaving for Britain.

This is not her first doctorate though. "I got a doctorate from Jadavpur University six years ago and a visiting professorship from Michigan University in 2000 as a part of the Martin Luther King award from Ann Arbor University," she said.

How does it feel for Shabana, bathed in film awards, to be fiercely feted by the academia?

"If you ask me to choose between being recognised for my work in cinema and the academic honours, I'd be nonplussed. The doctorates are for my work outside cinema. They, therefore, have another kind of value attached to them.

"To me, my most valuable award is the Gandhi International Peace Prize for my work in the Mumbai slums. And the award that I least deserved was the one given to me by the International Human Rights in 1989 by French president Francois Mitterand along with Mother Teresa. Though I didn't deserve it, I loved it."