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Malaysian state of Malacca is hopeful that after receiving the prestigious 'Datuk' title by the state government, Bollywood icon Shahrukh Khan would shoot more movies at the historical city and make it a popular tourist attraction.
The tiny state, which was recently declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, has awarded the Darjah Mulia Seri Melaka (DMSM), which carries the title 'Datuk' to Shahrukh for promoting Malacca in his songs and films.
"When Khan will come to Malacca for receiving the award slated for next month, we will try to persuade him to capture Malacca's various tourist attractions in his future Bollywood movies," Malacca Chief Minister Mohd Ali Rustam said.
"Shahrukh could also help us in convincing other Bollywood actors and directors to shoot their films here," the Chief Minister was quoted as saying.
The Hindi Cinema superstar is immensely popular among the Malays who love watching Bollywood films.
However, there has been widespread criticism to Shahrukh being awarded the title as people felt that there were deserving Malaysians who could have been named for Datukship by the Malacca Governor in place of the actor.
Whereas, the Malaysian Artistes Association (Karyawan) has backed the conferment saying it had no problem as long as similar or higher awards were conferred to equally deserving local artistes.
The actor was among 758 recipients of Malacca state honours this year in conjunction with 70th birth anniversary of Malacca's head of state Mohd Khalil Yaakob on October 11.
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