Bollywood icon Shahrukh Khan has agreed to accept the title of Datuk bestowed upon him by the Malacca Governor for popularizing the beautiful World Heritage Site in his movies.

Malacca Chief Minister Mohd Ali Rustam said that the Indian superstar would be in Malacca next month to receive the award in person from Governor Mohd Khalil Yaakob.

"Shahrukh has agreed to accept the award and this message was conveyed to the governor's office. He will try to make it in November, however the date of the ceremony is yet to be fixed," Rustam quoted was saying by Star newspaper's online edition on Tuesday.

The Chief Minsiter said that arrangements for the actor's trip to Malacca were being made through former finance minister Daim Zainuddin, who was the one who mooted the idea.

When asked by reporters whether the state had any intention of retracting the award to the actor following protests from several quarters, as well as the issue being raised in Parliament on Monday, Rustam said there was no intention of retracting the award.

"How can you give something to a person and later take it back?" he said. He also defended the state's decision to confer Datukship on the actor saying Shah Rukh Khan had helped promote Malacca to an international audience through the film ‘One 2 Ka 4’ and ‘Don’.

"If the state wanted to get this sort of publicity on CNN, it would have had to pay millions," he said adding "the move to confer the award on the actor might prompt him to shoot more films here.”