New Delhi, Aug 5 - The Indian film fraternity is trying to seek 100,000 solidarity comments on a social networking website to urge the government to confer the prestigious Bharat Ratna upon Bollywood thespian Dilip Kumar.

A community titled 'Dilip Kumar for Bharat Ratna' on Facebook that now has over 850 members dedicated to the cause was started at the behest of filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt.

Bhatt said he was not the only one who wishes that the 86-year-old be awarded the country's highest civilian honour.

'It is the entire industry's effort. From every region, stalwarts have come out to appeal for him. I was just a foot soldier. It is the Indian film industry's effort, not an individual's effort,' Bhatt told IANS via SMS.

The group has been primarily created to seek solidarity from people so that the administrators of the website can bind all the comments in a book and submit it to the president and the prime minister.

The members of the community have been asked to 'leave a comment or endorse by replying a one liner - 'I endorse that Dilip Kumar is the most deserving person to be honoured with the Bharat Ratna''.

Dilip Kumar, who is married to actress Saira Bano, is known for his landmark performances in films like 'Devdas', 'Madhumati', 'Ganga Jamuna', 'Mughal-E-Azam', 'Shakti' and 'Karma'.

Many of his fans as well as members of the industry have put out individual comments.