Nearly three decades after he shot the last among the three films he has produced in Nepal, Bollywood legend Dev Anand returned to the kingdom to accept a state tribute for his contribution to cinema.

"It's an emotional trip for me," said the 82-year-old, slated to receive the first state award for Excellence in Cinema at the finale of Nepal's first National Film Festival in Kathmandu. "I am emotionally involved in Nepal."

Dev Anand, who arrived Friday with his son Suneil, dismissed the speculation that the Nepal government had chosen to honour him because of his reported closeness to the royal family.

"At this stage of my life, I don't go chasing awards," told Dev Anand. "If they had not given me the award, I would still have been happy to come here as an onlooker."

It was a nostalgic visit for the star who was taken on a tour in Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Pokhara.

It was in Nepal in the 1970s that he shot "Hare Ram Hare Krishna", his hit film on the hippies and drug culture in Nepal, followed by a musical, "Ishq, Ishq, Ishq".

Though he came to Nepal yet again for a third film "Johnny Mera Naam", Dev Anan doesn't rank that among his "Nepal" films.

"We stayed here for 10 days to shoot two songs," he shrugs. "I was an actor, not the director. It is no use coming to Nepal to shoot a film unless Nepal features in that film. It's downright stupid to come for the sake of a few songs. You can shoot them anywhere."

Dev Anand said while he was happy people had the right to discuss his contribution to Nepalese cinema, "Hare Ram.." was "by Nepal and of Nepal".

"Does everybody make films like that?" he said. "'Hare Ram...' needed the emotional and physical involvement of the Nepalese. There were Nepalese actors in every frame. I knew the whole country inside out. I am not alien to Nepal, I am an international citizen, my media crosses all barriers of nationality."

Dev Anand said he would have to study the political situation on his own before he could pass judgment on whether Nepal needed the almost two-month-long period of emergency imposed by King Gyanendra on Feb 1.

"Some countries do need the institution of kingship," he said, "like Britain, Scandinavian countries. The king is the one cementing factor to bind different political parties together. I support democracy but freedom must come with lots of discipline and no violence."

Dev Anand, who had opposed the state of emergency declared in India by then prime minister Indira Gandhi in 1975-77, said he was not making a political statement in Nepal.

"I opposed emergency in India because I am an Indian," he said. "I am an outsider here, you can't make assessments in a hurry. I have to live here to comment on the political situation."

The star, who will celebrate 60 years in showbiz in October with the release of his new film "Mr Prime Minister" - a satire on the Indian political system of which he is the director and also plays the lead - said he would think about making another film in Nepal since the visit had "opened windows" in his mind.

The film may not feature on the palace massacre in Nepal in 2001 that wiped out the entire ruling family, a theme he had earlier said he would like to explore.

"It is a very sensitive subject," he said. "I can't make a film on it unless I have the permission of the people involved in it - the royal family as well as the people of Nepal."