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dancing into
the twilight
S t i l l a d d i n g g e n e r o u s a m o u n t s o f f l avo u r t o
t h e i n d u s t ry w i t h e v e ry n e w f i l m o f h i s , M i t h u n
C ha k r a b o rt y r e m i n i sc e s a b o u t h i s s w e e t m e m o r i e s
a n d s o u r m o m e n t s o f t h e pa s t, a n d s ha r e s h i s d r e a m s
f o r t o m o r r o w w i t h T S I ’ s A n u G u l m o ha r .

the sunday indian 52 25 july 2010 the sunday indian 53 25 july 2010
a r t
‘D
on’t give up and your dreams will come
true’ is the message of “Shukno Lanka”,
Mithun Chakraborty’s latest film. As I en-
tered the smoke-filled room and sat down
beside the one-time one-man industry, I looked at his
tired eyes that patiently looked at me waiting for the
questions to fly. I wondered of the several dreams that
those eyes have seen come true in his life. Here was
someone who had been associated with the Naxalite
movement in its nascent years and later at much risk to
his own life had moved away from it and entered the
Mumbai film industry. For several films he was merely a
part of the crowd; with “Do Anjaane” he finally got the
opportunity to speak a dialogue, and with the very first
lead role that he bagged in Mrinal Sen’s “Mrigaya”, he
also took away the National Award for Best Actor! Thus
having risen from the ranks of a junior artist, Mithun
found resonance in his character in “Shukno Lanka”, in
which he plays Chinu Nandy, a struggling middle-aged
junior artist who dreams of one day being able to add
such flavour to films as dry red chillies do to a curry. “If
you’ve seen the movie, my struggle was worse than that,”
said Mithun. “I think it was much harsher, much more
the sunday indian 54 25 july 2010
humiliating. “Shukno Lanka” is a film about a dream.
Everybody has a dream, whether he is a junior artist or a
cart puller or the chairman of a corporate firm. Just
don’t divert from your dreams. Hold on to your dreams,
and one day you will see the dreams coming true.” He
said this with the conviction that could shame a motiva-
tional speaker, and I couldn’t help but wonder if his be-
lief in the theme of the film stemmed from his
personal journey.
After he hit gold with a National Award for his very
first major role, the superstar status was bestowed on
him some years later with films like “Disco Dancer” that
won him lakhs of fans. Fans, who interestingly, were not
limited to Indian borders. At the premiere of this film in
Delhi, two ladies who I concluded to be from Russia,
desperately tried to catch his attention. Alas, the pa-
parazzi didn’t allow them to meet their hero. How did he
come to be loved so by people in Russia? “Even I ask the
same question!” exclaimed Mithun. “I always thought
my fans today would be about 40-45 years old, but now I
see even 20-year-old girls are also my fans. I think their
mothers would have passed on the legacy to their
daughters saying, "If you have to love a man, he should
be like this man!" It is not Russia only. If you take a tour
to Japan, Africa, China and other parts of Asia, the fans
are so maddening even there! Once I went to Tanzania,
and people knew that I am coming, and so at the airport,
I could only see heads, heads and heads! I cannot de-
scribe the scene to you in words. But in Russia, they
worship me… that’s the difference. People learn Hindi,
they save money hoping that one day they will come to
India and meet me. It’s terrific, and I can’t believe it
myself!”
Mithun began to tower over everyone else in Bolly-
wood in the ’80s and comparisons with Amitabh Bach-
chan became common. Mithun modestly doesn’t think
much of it. “I was considered as the poor man’s Amitabh
Bachchan!” he laughs. “People thought that I was as
good as Amitabh Bachchan, and when they could not
afford Amitabh Bachchan, they figured that their best
bet was Mithun Chakraborty, who could make them as
much money but with lesser stakes involved!” Parallel to
his Bollywood films, he’s continued to invest his time
and effort in arthouse cinema and also Bengali films. “I
don’t categorise between art and commercial films; a
film is a film. The film that satisfies my heart is a film
like “Shukno Lanka”, the film I do for a lot of money sat-
isfies my needs. If I had only been doing meaningful
cinema, then I would have been hungry and struggling
till today,” says Mithun and I couldn’t keep from not
raising my eyebrows when he went on to say, “When I
see money, I don’t hear the script.” Perhaps people
who’ve seen so much and overcome so much, feel little
the sunday indian 55 25 july 2010
mithun chakraborty
“Hrithik is a ter-
rific dancer...Even
Shahid dances
very well. Though
if I had entered
films now, I would
have beaten them!"
need to mince words. It was at this point that
more than his height, stature or star power, his
blatant honesty bowled me over. In the last
year or so most of us television viewers have
been watching Mithun as the Grand Judge on
the show “Dance India Dance.” Just like the
world got up and praised him for his incredi-
ble dance moves, he is now seen saluting the young tal-
ent. “Hrithik is a terrific dancer, no doubt about it. Even
Shahid dances very well. Though if I had entered films
now, I would have beaten them!” laughed Mithun. “I
think my son Mimoh is a magical dancer.” Also an hote-
lier, Mithun owns the Monarch Group. Has he ever con-
sidered opening a dance school? “Maybe I will tomor-
row…but I would rather set-up a complete acting insti-
tute all over the country. Whatever I have received, I
would like to pass it on ahead. But it would definitely
mean business; I don’t want to open a charitable institu-
tion. I have paid for it too, paid very heavily for it. Not
with money though, but with everything else…” “Shuk-
no Lanka” touches the topic of immortality; I ask him if
he would like to be immortal. “Nobody is immortal,
only your deeds are immortal. If your deeds are not im-
mortal, nobody can be immortal. If the people love my
deeds and actions, I will be immortal,” replied Mithun.
The man who made pelvic thrusts the de rigueur in
Bollywood, the actor who has worked in films of all
themes and budgets, and the man who is loved by peo-
ple across generations – we think going by his definition,
Mithunda, as the world endearingly addresses him, will
be immortal.