Actor-turned-politician Kamal Haasan was on Tuesday conferred an honorary doctorate by Odisha's Centurion University of Technology and Management for his contribution to cinema. Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik presented the doctorate degree (honoris causa) to Haasan at a special function here. "Haasan is a legend who has served the nation throughout his life through art, cinema and humanitarian works. He has made many new experiments in cinema. His silent movie 'Pushpak' has been hailed as an all-time great in the world of cinema," said the Chief Minister. "I am informed that he has turned his fan club into an organization for humanitarian activities. This speaks volumes about his commitment to human values. I wish him success in all his endeavours," said Patnaik.

Accepting the honour, Haasan called upon the students to take full advantage of the skill development opportunities and contribute significantly to the growth of the nation."Odisha is a model state and we are trying to seek knowledge from here so that we would make Tamil Nadu like Odisha. We are taking the experience from every state, which is the forerunners in some ideas or the other," Haasan said.

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While Kamal Haasan was present at the Centurion University campus, he also inaugurated the beautiful Raaj Kamal Butterfly Garden there. He visited the students at the university’s Skill Development Center to see the work and effort being put there. The veteran actor was given a tour of the state-of-the-art Kalinga Hockey Stadium in Bhubaneswar by Odisha Sports secretary Mr. Vishal K. Dev and Director, R. Vineel Krishna. He was then presented, the ISL team Odisha FC’s Jersey by Arshdeep Singh of the team who plays as a goalkeeper. The Indian hockey team has recently qualified for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Mr. Haasan met the team along with the staff and was presented a signed jersey of the team by captain Manpreet Singh.

(Source: IANS)