Mithun Chakraborty’s new innings in politics: ever more expensive actor than Amitabh, CD grade films of the 90s.
Jaipur about 33 years ago. The shooting of Mithun Chakraborty‘s ‘Daata’ was going on in the Sagar Lake area near Amer Fort. Mithun (who is also an amateur singer) surrounded by fans was slowly humming the song of his film ‘Pyaar Jhukta Nahin’ on Faramish, ‘Tumhe Apna Sathi Banane Se Pehle meri Jaan muze Bahut Sochana hai’. Mithun Dada really had to think a lot before starting a new innings in politics. Speculation was hot for a long time. He was not opening the cards by saying ‘what you are understanding is nothing’. Now that the BJP has joined, the song of his old film ‘Suraksha’ must have been humming, “Maine Pyar Kiya to Thik Kiya”.
Were ever leftists
There is nothing permanent and stable in politics. It has the distinct glory of ‘ghat-ghat ka pani’ drinkers. Especially when someone becomes a leader from an actor, he should not ask his party on the lines of Kabir’s ‘Jati Na Pucho Sadhu Ki’. Like the flowing water, they are here today, tomorrow there. Mithun’s name was Gaurango Chakraborty before appearing in films. The left had an ideology. Once during the Lok Sabha elections he was also seen campaigning for Congress’s Pranab Mukherjee.
Left membership of Rajya Sabha
He joined the Trinamool Congress after the Left Front’s departure in West Bengal. Became a member of the Rajya Sabha on this party’s ticket. He went to the Rajya Sabha only three times as a Member of Parliament. He was the brand ambassador of Sharda Chitfund Company. His name also cropped up during the investigation of the scam of this company, so he was disillusioned with politics. He was away from politics after resigning from Rajya Sabha membership five years ago. In the south, cinema and politics have mixed with water like milk. They could not be reconciled in the rest of the country. In North and East India, film artists are more used to gather crowds during the election season.
Won National Award three times
Mithun Chakraborty may not have done any work in politics yet, he has shot big arrows in films. He won the National Award for the very first film ‘Mrigaya’ (1976). He was once the most expensive actor after Amitabh Bachchan. He had a minor role of two-three minutes in Amitabh Bachchan’s ‘Do Anjaane’. In the subsequent films (Ganga Jamuna Saraswati, Agneepath) he appeared as a co-hero with Amitabh. He was awarded the National Award for two more films ‘Tahader Katha’ (1992) and ‘Swami Vivekananda’ (1998).
Father of disco and karatenuma battle
Mithun Chakraborty started the era of disco and karate fight in Hindi films. He was called ‘Amitabh Bachchan of the poor’ after the success of relatively low budget ‘Suraksha’, ‘Tarana’ and ‘Prem Vivah’ in the seventies. His career went up at a rocket pace after the banging success of ‘Pyaar Jhukta Nahin’ (1985) in the eighties. The film was a copy of 1973’s ‘Aa Gale Lag Ja’ (Shashi Kapoor, Sharmila Tagore). In ‘Gulami’ (1985), Mithun repeated all the doubts of his critics by repeating ‘No doubt’. It is of course that since the nineties he spent much of his talent and energy in C D grade films (Chandal, Jakhmi Sipahi, Janata Ki Adalat, Cheetah, Gunda). After the coinage in films, his emphasis was on ‘Ane Bhi Do Yaaro’.
