MUMBAI, Jan 19: Britain's finance minister Gordon Brown ended his trip to India on Friday by meeting Bollywood screen icon Amitabh Bachan in Mumbai. Mr Brown will take home with him DVDs of some of Bollywood's most successful blockbusters, which were presented to him by famed producer-director Yash Chopra as souvenirs of his three-day visit.
“He met Bollywood acting legend Amitabh Bachchan at the studio and discussed with Chopra issues relating to the shooting of Bollywood movies in the UK,” a spokesman for Yash Raj Films said.
Mr Brown has been keen to promote cooperation between the British and Indian movie entertainment industries.
Mr Brown, dubbed Britain's prime-minister-in-waiting, held talks on Thursday with India's premier Manmohan Singh.
But charges of racism back home spurred by a row over a British celebrity reality show overshadowed a trip intended to raise the finance minister's profile on the world stage and boost bilateral trade ties.
His visit, which took him to the high-tech capital of Bangalore, New Delhi and Mumbai, was overtaken by alleged racist comments by contestants in Britain's “Celebrity Big Brother” show that included Indian Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty, who has been taunted about her skin colour, accent and cooking.
Mr Brown was forced to defend Britain against charges of racism.
He described Shetty's treatment as “offensive” and insisted that Britain was “a country of fairness and tolerance”, seeking to defuse a diplomatic row which erupted over the programme.
He told a news conference in New Delhi that the furore would not affect relations between India and Britain -- sentiments Finance Minister P.
Chidambaram shared, saying the episode had “not strained ties.” The DVDs presented to Brown in Mumbai included “Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge” (The Lover will take the Bride) along with “Veer-Zaara” (Names of People), “Dhoom” (Have a Blast) and “Fanaa” (Destroyed in Love).
Mr Brown arrived in India on Wednesday at the head of a 150-company business delegation.Earlier on Friday, Mr Brown attended a financial sector meeting in Mumbai and told senior industrialists and bankers that steps would be taken to liberalise trade between India and Britain.
“The financial services sectors in both the UK and India have been growing year by year and both the governments have a very important role to play to strengthen, deepen these links and allow success to continue,” Mr Brown said.—AFP
