The recognition puts Khan in the illustrious club of the same award winners like Bengali filmmaker Mrinal Sen, Tamil superstar Sivaji Ganesan, Carnatic musician Balmurali Krishna, India-born author Salman Rushdie, Hollywood stars Robert Redford, Bruce Wills, Leonardo DiCaprio, Sharon Stone, Meryl Streep and Uma Thurman.

Khan will be conferred with the decorative medal at a function later this summer.

The medal is given to French nationals and foreigners for their significant contributions to arts and literature and development of global culture.

Khan's most recent film Don, a remake of the Amitabh Bachchan-starrer with the same title in the 1980s, was partly shot in Paris.

Khan has a wax statue in the world-famous Madame Tussaud's in London which the actor had jovially described as "much better looking" than he himself.