The veteran actor has worked in more than 350 films in different languages like Hindi, Bengali, Odia, Bhojpuri and Tamil. Through his exceptional acting, he has won the hearts of audiences worldwide.
Mithun@76: Despite flop films his craze never faded: Bollywood’s ‘Disco Dancer’ Mithun Chakraborty is celebrating his 76th birthday today. He is popularly known as ‘Mithun Da’. In the era of Amitabh, Dharmendra, and Jeetendra, Mithun emerged as an artist who was in high demand in Russia. People used to imitate his dance steps, dress like him, and eagerly wait for his films. But behind this success lies a long story of struggle, hard work, and drive to prove oneself.
Mithun Chakraborty was born on 16 June 1950 in Kolkata. His real name is Gaurang Chakraborty. After completing his studies, he learned acting from the Film and Television Institute, Pune. After the sudden death of his brother, he decided to stay with his family. After this, he moved to Mumbai to work in the film world. His journey in the film world started in 1976 with ‘Mrigaya’. His acting in the first film was so appreciated that he won the National Award for Best Actor. The veteran actor has worked in more than 350 films in different languages like Hindi, Bengali, Odia, Bhojpuri, and Tamil. Through his exceptional acting, he has won the hearts of audiences worldwide. Before becoming a Bollywood superstar, Mithun was actively associated with the Naxalite movement during his youth in West Bengal in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s.
In an interview, Mithun revealed that his journey was not a bed of roses. At the beginning of his career in the film industry, he faced discrimination due to his dark complexion and constant rejections. He used to spend days on streets, clean toilets etc. He often hid and slept on water tanks on building terraces. Apart from these struggles he never looked back. He worked on himself focusing only his dreams. He has worked in many hit movies like, Disco Dancer, Pyar Jhukta Nahin, Ghulami, Swarg Se Sundar, Jallad, Chandaal, Daata, Golmaal 3, OMG, The Kashmir Files etc.
Mithun Chakraborty had a different era in the 90s, which is also called his ‘Ooty Era’. During this time, he did several low-budget action films. There came a time when more than 30 of his consecutive films proved to be flops or average at the box office. But despite this, his craze did not decrease. His ‘Bollywood king’ title remained unshaken.
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