When France conferred the Insignia of Officer in the Order of Arts and Letters on Khan, it was an affirmation that he was one of India’s most loved faces abroad. The French ambassador to India, Jerome Bonnafont, admitted this while presenting the French award — one of the four ministerial honours — to the actor in Mumbai on Sunday night. “Shah Rukh Khan is a youth icon even in France. This award is universal, but we had not thought of India enough in the past,” said Bonnafont. Apart from Arundhati Roy, other recipients of the award include George Clooney, Leonardo DiCaprio, Bob Dylan, Clint Eastwood and Meryl Streep.

Khan recounted, tongue-in-cheek, how he was surprised by the star treatment he got, thanks to Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Aishwarya Rai, when Devdas was screened at the Cannes Film Festival. “The French made me feel like a big star there. They love the cinema,” he said, adding that though he would have liked to take Chak De! India and Om Shanti Om to Cannes, the festival rule said the films to be featured should not be released in the country of their origin.

The actor’s French connection, however, runs deeper than Cannes and awards. A regular at Alliance Francaise’s screenings before tasting stardom, Khan joked that “love scenes” were one of the draws. Terming French films “romantic and sensuous”, he said they were a must-watch for anyone who wanted to learn about cinema.