Big B's decision to refuse Australian doctorate childish: Bhatt

Bhatt, who is on a 12-day visit to shoot his first film Down Under, 'Crook: Its good to be bad', said, "I have great respect for Amitabh Bachchan as an actor but I find this very childish."

"I think its not fair to Queensland University which is giving you an honour that you will turn it down just because some incidents have happened in the past because of some unscrupulous children have behaved in a negative way with some other people," Bhatt said.

"I feel that to react so strongly and to turn down the honour...I think the time is to be a grown up," he added.

Expressing his views candidly, Bhatt said he did not believe in mincing words hailing from the Bhatt camp.

"I am a Gujarati but I'm not Gandhi, I am a Vallabh Bhai Patel," he said.

Bachchan had last year turned down the honorary doctorate from Queensland University of Technology for his contribution to Indian cinema after canvassing opinions from readers of his hugely popular blog.

He said he had been "overwhelmed" by the response.

"I mean no disrespect to the Institution that honours me, but under the present circumstances, where citizens of my own country are subjected to such acts of inhuman horror, my conscience does not permit me to accept this decoration from a country that perpetrates such indignity to my fellow countrymen," Bachchan had written.