Dance Mithun Dance

Mithun Chakraborty danced his way into the hearts of people. Today, as his eldest son is trying to find a foothold in film industry, he says, “I did it on my own and my son has to do it on his own. I can guide, support but I cannot create his destiny”.

On 16 June Mithun Chakraborty turned a year older. Born into a Hindu Kshatriya Bengali family Mithun did his schooling at the Oriental Seminary in Calcutta. He is a chemistry graduate from the University of Calcutta and had a restless streak in him even as a little boy. His teachers described him as over energetic. He trained as a wrestler at the well known Panchanan Bayam Samitee in Jorabagan under the tutelage of international coach Sudhir Sahe. In 1967, Mithun represented the state in the junior category and won a cup. Few people are aware that he sought training in martial arts and is an official Black Belter.

In the late 60s Bengal was going through the Naxalite movement and Mithun Chakraborty was greatly influenced by the inspiring speeches of the leaders. He was on the verge of becoming a comrade when he chanced upon a newspaper advertisement about FTII in Pune. Mithun had never shared with anyone that he desired to become an actor and this was a chance he was not going to miss! The year was 1970 and some of his classmates at FTII Pune included Zarina Wahab and Shabana Azmi. In 1972 Mithun passed FTII and began his struggle. He traveled from studio to studio and knocked doors of producers but was rejected by all. Some said he was too dark, some called him too Bong. Some said he could not do action and some said he lacked grace as a dancer.

Three years went by without a single ray of hope. There were times he had no money to pay his rent and there were times when he had no food for days. Sometimes he went to friend’s homes at lunch time hoping to be served lunch but these were not real friends and they asked him to shake his belly before he was served two rotis. Mithun was losing courage and wondered if it was a mistake to pursue acting, when Mrinal Sen summoned him to Calcutta and began shooting ‘Mrigaya’. ‘Mrigaya’ starring Mithun and Mamta Shankar, won him his first National Award. Bengal was proud of their new hero and for a while old scars were healed. He was contemplating staying back in Calcutta and doing Bengali films when Dulal Guha shooting ‘Do Anjaane’ in the city asked Mithun to do a cameo of a Bengali actor in his film. The year 1977 was a turning point for the actor. He was shooting back to back films in Bombay and the result was ‘Mera Rakshak’ 1978 was hit and ‘Suraksh,’ ‘Tarana’ in 1979 were super hits. ‘Prem Vivaah’ in the same year was average but it was the beginning of an association with Basu Chatterjee and his kind of cinema.

The 80s proved to be a defining decade for Mithun and there were many reasons for this. Amitabh Bachchan the king of Hindi cinema had taken a break from films and was temporarily settled in Delhi supporting his friend Rajiv Gandhi in politics. In his absence the filmmakers were desperate to groom a successful heir and there were many contenders – some Bachchan contemporaries like Vinod Khanna and Rajesh Khanna and others younger actors like Anil Kapoor and Sanjay Dutt. Nobody had eyes on Mithun Chakraborty but he proved the dark horse! He quietly continued working, did over 110 films, some multi starrers, some solo hero movies, some mainstream and some off beat. Some were utter trash and few noteworthy but what was important was that Mithun was in the public eye. Critics appreciated him in ‘Hum Paanch’, 1980. He surprised box-office in ‘Hum Se Badkar Kaun’, 1981. He did a comedy ‘Shaukeen’ with Basu Chatterjee in 1983. Exhibitors were bowled over by the freak success of ‘Teri Baho Mein’ in 1983 and this continued with ‘Ghar Ek Mandir’ 84, ‘Pyaar Jhukta Nahi’ 85, ‘Swarag Se Sundar’ 86, ‘Dance Dance’ 1987, ‘Waqt Ki Awaaz’ 1988 and Bapu’s ‘Prem Pratigyaa’ with Madhuri Dixit in 1989. Distributors accepted that his films did not garner the business of Bachchan films but they argued that they were not as highly budgeted either. Soon Mithun Chakraborty became to be identified as poor man’s Amitabh Bachchan which was a back handed compliment and also the reason of his decline.

During the 90s Mithun was doing a lot of South productions around this time and had shifted base to Ooty. He had expanded interest in other businesses like hotels and even launched a Hotel Management School. At heart Mithun was an actor but the extent of his business did not permit him to travel and as a result he was only willing to work with directors who agreed to shoot in Ooty and dub the films into Bengali. Not all filmmakers were willing to compromise and those who did like K Bappaiah ruined his career with the same brand of films. Mithun was stagnating as an artiste but flourishing as a business man. He knew he had to make a choice and he was unable to. He was fortunate that during this lean phase he was offered some films that validated him both, as a star and as an actor: Mukul Anand convinced him to do ‘Agneepath’ 1990, Bengali film ‘Tahedar Katha’ 1992 got him his second National Award and two films with Mahesh Bhatt ‘Najayaaz’ 1993 and ‘Jalaad’ 1994 (received Filmfare award) and for ‘Swami Vivekananda’ 1998, he received his third National Award.

His teacher in school had warned that Mithun was a restless soul and in 2000 Mithun Chakraborty was restless again. He was saturated with hotel business and was looking for a new life with family in Mumbai. He had a home locked up in Bandra but that would not suffice his large family now. So Mithun purchased acres of land in Madh Island and built a dream home that houses not just family – wife Yogita Bali, sons Mimo and Rimo and daughters Namachi and Dishani but 12 dogs, six cats and innumerable birds and water animals in the large pond that Yogita Bali personally supervises. His first agenda was to launch elder son Mimo but after two attempts left him to try his luck. “I did it on my own and my son has to do it on his own. I can guide, support but I cannot create his destiny.” There are talks that his second son Rimo will soon make his debut too but Mithun is clear he is not launching him. Mithun is fortunate that he is still getting films and is happy to do a comedy ‘Golmaal 3’ 2010, ‘Housefull 2’ 2012, ‘O My God’ and a negative role in ‘Kaanchi’ 2014 and there is Zee TV’s ‘Dance India Dance’ going strong for five years and more. He has the love of his large family and the company of his birds and pets, so Mithun Chakraborty is happy, well almost.