IFFM 2022: Scholarship named after Shah Rukh Khan to be awarded for second time

Shah Rukh Khan has instituted a scholarship in partnership with the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne (IFFM) and La Trobe University for the second time.

The first scholarship was announced at the 2019 edition of the festival where the actor was the chief guest and visited the university to launch the grant. It was placed on hold last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic and travel restrictions.

Gopika Kottantharayil Bhasi from Thrissur, Kerala was awarded the maiden scholarship.

The top criteria for the selection is that the candidate has to be an Indian national and a woman residing in India and should have completed a Masters of research degree within the past 10 years. The selected student will receive a four-year La Trobe University full-fee research scholarship.

The registration for the scholarship started from 18 August and will be open till 23 September. The university said that this was their most applied for scholarship with over 800 applicants and hence the scholarship has been introduced again, courtesy of the festival that facilitated this.

Festival director Mitu Bhowmick Lange stated, “We all know SRK [Khan] has a big heart and he has proved it yet again. The scholarship is a life-changing opportunity for a female researcher from India. India is filled with talent and spark and all it takes is to ignite that spark. SRK’s association with IFFM goes back a long time, but now, since it’s for a cause, it makes it even more special. La Trobe University is one of the leading universities in Australia and getting a chance to study at this university has been on the wishlist of many students.”

Named as one of the top universities in the world, the Australian education institution has hosted some of the renowned dignitaries from India, including prime minister Indira Gandhi, Kapil Dev, Malaika Arora Khan, Amitabh Bachchan, Rajkumar Hirani and Abhijat Joshi.