Lifetime Achievement award for Jaya Bachchan

London: Veteran Bollywood actress Jaya Bachchan will be honoured with a `Lifetime Achievement Award` at a film festival here. The 61-year-old actress will be awarded for her outstanding contribution to Indian cinema.

Jaya started her career at the age of 15 with Satyajit Ray`s Bengali film `Mahanagar` (1963) and has acted in films like `Guddi`, `Chalte Chalte` and `Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham` in her forty-year long career in the industry. The award will be presented to Jaya on March 5 at "Tongues on Fire" film festival, which is dedicated to the cinema cultures of South Asia. The festival will be hosted by British television and film actor Rizwan Ahmed. Jaya, husband Amitabh Bachchan, son Abhishek, filmmaker Shyam Benegal, actress Sharmila Tagore and her actor daughter Soha Ali Khan will attend the 10-day long festival, which begins here from March 5. "This year`s Tongues on Fire could not come at a better time. With `My Name Is Khan` smashing records at cinemas around the UK to become the most successful Bollywood film in British box office history, it`s the perfect time to celebrate the achievements of Asian cinema," said Pushpinder Chowdhry, the director of the festival. "Asian film has the feel-good factor and the appeal to speak to Asian and non-Asian audiences alike. The Festival encompasses films from up-and-coming home-grown talent as well as established Asian filmmakers - from urban Glasgow to rural Afghanistan," she added. `A Bafta interview` with Abhishek Bachchan will launch the Festival on March 5. His wife, actress and former Miss World Aishwarya Rai, is also expected to attend. The festival will showcase as many as 30 films from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Afghanistan at six London venues including Apollo Piccadilly Circus, BAFTA, Richmix, the Nehru Centre, University of Westminster and Brady Centre. Festival patron, writer, actress and comedian Meera Syal said: "I have been very proud to be associated with Tongues on Fire over the years - both as an excited viewer, and also as a participant, and am honoured to be the Patron of the Festival." On March 7, BAFTA will host `A BAFTA interview` with Shyam Benegal, the prolific Indian director and screenwriter whose first four feature films in the 1970s created a new genre of Indian film, now known as "Middle Cinema". Benegal`s latest film, `Well Done Abba`, which was a sell-out at the London Film Festival, will also be screened as part of Tongues on Fire. Other Bollywood highlights include the screening of `Mani Ratnam`s `Guru` and `Dostana` starring Abhishek Bachchan and John Abraham. The festival premieres include `Lovesongs` directed by Jayabrato Chatterjee and starring Jaya Bachchan. Sharmila Tagore and Soha Ali starrer `Life Goes on` by Sangeeta Dutta and `An Act of Terror` by Shahid Nadeem. The othe films to be screened include `Playing the Taar` by Afghan director, Roya Sadat, Bangladeshi film `Deshantari`, `Flowers from Heaven` by Sri Lankan director Prsanna Vithanage and `Bollywood Beats` by Melhul Shah. PTI