Mithun Chakraborty: A look at the disco dancer’s career on his birthday

Mithun Chakraborty is the only Bengali hero since Biswajeet in the 1960s, to have made it in Bollywood. Even the Bengali Mahanayak Uttam Kumar failed in Hindi with Chotisi Mulaqat in 1960s and Amanush in the 1970s. More recently Biswajeet’s son Prosenjit was a miserable failure in Hindi. Mithun almost didn’t make it in Hindi. Producers would tell him he was too dark-skinned to be a Hindi film hero. The Mumbai entertainment industy at that time was filled with _gora-chitta (_fairskinned) Punjabi and Pathani he-men. When was the last time you saw a dark-skinned hero in a Hindi film? Nawazuddin Siddiqui is hardly a hero. And if we talking about successful Bengalis in Bollywood then the actresses, from Sharmila Tagore and  Raakhee Gulzar  to Jaya Bhaduri and Konkona Sen Sharma , have presided over the industry. Once when I mentioned this Bengali demography in showbiz to Mithun he has laughed mirthlessly.  “I never stopped to think that this film industry was unfair to me. I just needed work so I did whatever came my way after Mrinal Sen’s Mrigaya which as you know, got me the National award. After that I played small parts in Hind films like Dulal Guha’s Do Anjaane, Mukti and Phool Khile Hain Gulshan Gulshan. I would take anything that came my way.” This democratic approach to offers remained with Mithun. I wonder how he survived the onslaught of trash that he inflicted on his career. For every stunning Mrigaya there were three Raavan Raj, Zakhmee Sipahee and Jallad. Mithun defended the barrage of bilge. “You may not have liked my commercial films. You may prefer to see me in Mrigaya, Hum Paanch and Buddhadeb Dasgupta’s Tahader Katha. But these films couldn’t run my kitchen. I had to do films like Jallad and Hisaab Khoon Ka. Audiences in interiors of India were crazy about these films.” Luckily the legacy of Mithun Chakraborty is not reliant on the rush of rubbish in the 1980s. Early in his career Mithun showed his sensitive side with Hum Paanch where he made the underdog seem like an oppressed cheetah. Producer Boney Kapoor told me he signed Mithun for Hum Paanch after seeing him in Mrigaya. Then there is that little-known gem Sitara which came in 1980. Mithun played Zarina Wahab’s devoted lover who follows her to Mumbai where she becomes a big star and leaves him behind. The bronze brawn hero was a delight as an underprivileged caste-challenged rebel in K Vishwanath’s  Jaag Utha Insaan and  Prem Pratiggya. These films did not succeed at the box-office. His career’s biggest hits are a crude romantic musical Pyar Jhukta Nahin and the dance musical Disco Dancer. These are two most populist films of a career that could have gone so much higher, if only the actor had not chosen to just go with the flow. Mithun Chakraborty could dance, fight and act. There is nothing that he couldn’t do. So what stopped him from getting to the top? Subhash K Jha is a Patna-based film critic who has been writing about Bollywood for long enough to know the industry inside out. He tweets at @SubhashK_Jha. Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News ,  India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.