Cinema is a universal medium that brings people together keeping aside the differences of their social and modern lives, said megastar Amitabh Bachchan on Thursday.

The 77-year-old veteran, who was named the Dadasaheb Phalke Award winner in September, is being honoured at the ongoing 50th International Film Festival of India with a retrospective.

“I’ve always felt that cinema is a universal medium, one that is beyond language and beyond all kinds of other factors that keep coming into our social and modern lives.

“When we sit inside a dark cinema hall, we never ask the caste, colour, religion of the person sitting next to us. Yet, we enjoy the same film, the same songs, we laugh at the same jokes and cry at the same emotions,” Bachchan said at the inauguration of the retrospective.

The actor said that in this fast-disintegrating world, there are only a few things, including cinema, which promoted the idea of community and peace.

“I hope that we continue to make films that will bring people together and disintegrate this rather odd system of keeping sides due to colour, caste and religion, bringing us all into one community, making us hold hands together to appreciate our creativity and take a step forward and making this world a more peaceful place.”