Mithun Chakraborty conferred the Dadasaheb Phalke Award

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The man who straddled art-house and mainstream cinema with equal elan, Padma Bhushan Mithun Chakraborty, has been conferred the nation’s highest award in cinema—the Dadasaheb Phalke honor by the Government of India. His is the rag-to-riches story of dreams, and as he put it, “I don’t have words. I cannot laugh or cry. This is truly an overwhelming moment and I am still taking it all in.”

Here’s presenting 50 facts about the latest Phalke laureate, actor, producer, hotelier, politician and more.

1. Mithun Chakraborty was born Gouranga Chakraborty, named after Lord Krishna, on 16 June 1950 to Basanta and Shantimoyee Chakraborty in Kolkata, the eldest and only son of four.
2. As per one of his nine (!!!) biographers, Ram Kamal Mukherjee, he was always a momma’s boy who did a puja of Lord Shiva every day on the way to school only because his mother had told him that it was a good practice and would protect his family.
3. He studied at Oriental Seminary (where Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore had studied) and then earned his B.Sc. degree in Chemistry from Scottish Church College (where his icon, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, studied) in Kolkata.
4. In college, he was known as a singer, a percussionist in traditional instruments, a mimic and a football player.
5. His father wanted him to be an engineer and Gouranga had even collected an admission form to an engineering college.
6. However, he soon joined student politics. He caught the attention of the Naxal leadership who needed a popular student figure and, unknown to his family, became a Naxalite in the late 1960s.
7. He soon realized that the movement had no meaning but was coerced by his parents to leave Kolkata for his own as well as their safety. On September 10, 1969, a tearful Gouranga left for Mumbai in a train to his paternal uncle’s home and stated that he felt ‘fear’ for the first time in his life.
8. The smell of dried fish in South Mumbai reminded him of home and that “immediately connected me with the city” he said in one interview.
9. The Naxal shadow soon made his uncle request him to move out. As per Mithun, it haunted him later even in the industry.
10. Gouranga spent his days at Dadar railway station and slept on benches there and under water tanks in a park. One day, he encountered some young men speaking in Bengali and thus he met his first friend in Mumbai, (later) producer Gautam Guha, son of veteran filmmaker, Dulal Guha. His first Mumbai role later was a cameo in Dulal’s Amitabh-Rekha film, Do Anjaane (1976) and he also did Gautam’s Boxer (1984) and Sagar Sangam (1988) besides Dulal’s presentation, Ilaaka (1989), in which Mithun made his singing debut under Nadeem-Shravan, who also recorded with him for their private album, Star Ten.
11. On astrological advice, Gouranga’s name was changed to Mithun, his Sun Sign (Gemini) and the unusual name made him the first actor to be named thus.
12. After doing a college play with Gautam, Mithun became interested in acting and wanted to join the Film & Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune. His family decided to support him. He scored a First Class in the final exam and graduated in 1974, describing his experience there as “overwhelming and empowering.”
13. He returned to Mumbai and with Gautam’s help, rented a room, sharing the rent and room with Vijay Upadhyaya. Five decades down, Vijay remains his secretary.
14. But his dark skin and unconventional looks came in the way and he could not even be a successful model. However, under the passing name of Rana Rez, he joined Helen’s troupe.

    

15. Helen once gave him a solo performance that dazzled audiences and filmmaker B. Subhash, who watched him, decided that he would one day make a dance-oriented film with the lad.
16. Mithun’s other mentor was Hrishikesh Mukherjee, one of his selectors for FTII admission. He strongly recommended him to Mrinal Sen, who was then planning Mrigayaa. Mrinal initially found Mithun an upstart, and set down conditions like a haircut, and Mithun agreed and signed the movie.
17. In the scene where his character is hanged, a real hangman was called and Mithun insisted on wearing a real hangman’s noose.
18. At its trial show, Mrinal Sen told Mithun’s father that his son deserved the National award. And his words came true.
19. Mithun became the first Indian actor after Rishi Kapoor (Mera Naam Joker / 1970) to win the National Award for his debut film. Rishi, however, was given the Best Child Actor Award as he was playing an adolescent!
20. Mithun was paid Rs. 500 for Mrigaya!
21. In mainstream cinema, he was given small roles in films like Dulal’s Paapi Devta (which never took off), Mukti, Phool Khile Hain Gulshan Gulshan and Amar Deep, besides Do Anjaane.
22. Devar, the South big name who mainly produced films featuring animals, cast him in Mera Rakshak (1978),that did decent business. He also released his first Bengali film, Nadi Tekre Sagre.
23. In Hamara Sansaar (1978) and Tere Pyar Mein (1979), a film whose music did well and boosted the film (as per distributor Pehlaj Nilahani), Mithun was cast opposite Sarika, and had a short-lived relationship with her.
24. It was Ravee Nagaich’s Suraksha with the tagline, Gunmaster G-9, that made Mithun saleable. With this film, Mithun forged an association with Bappi Lahiri. Tere Pyar Mein, also had his songs. Suraksha did a Golden Jubilee (a 50-week run). Its song Mausam hai gaane ka is the first full-fledged disco song in Hindi cinema.
25. Suraksha is the first contemporary film to get a sequel—Wardat. Ravee later made Laparwah and Tarkeeb with Mithun.
26. In the same year, Taraana, a musical from Rajshri Productions, did 50 weeks in matinee shows. Tarana and Suraksha made Mithun a hot pair with fellow FTII graduate, Ranjeeta—they did about 15 films!
27. 1980 saw Mithun play his first dual role in the film, Taxi Chor. He later did 16 more—the highest for any actor. Mithun also got to star in 1980 in K.A. Abbas’ The Naxalites, an offbeat film that saw Mithun revisit, so to speak, to the traumatic phase of his life.
28. In 1980, he did his first films with future wife Yogeeta Bali (Khwab and Unnees Bees). In 1981, they did their last film together, Beshaque.

    

29. His first major mainstream hit came in Hum Paanch (1981), in which he acted as the rustic Bhima. As per Ram Kamal’s book, Anil Kapoor, its production manager (the film was produced by father Surinder Kapoor) was given the task of waking Mithun up as he was a late riser, and would get the choicest abuses from him!

    

30. 1982 marked the final breakthrough for Mithun with his third Golden Jubilee and the film that gave him a lasting image as a dancing hero, B. Subhash’s Disco Dancer. Mithun became a household name.
31. The disco trend continued with the duo’s Kasam Paida Karne Wale Ki and Dance Dance and Pyar Ke Naam Qurbaan. The film also clicked big time in China, the middle-East, Eastern Europe, Central Asia and more, and became India’s first movie to gross Rs. 100 crore worldwide. Bappi’s music won an award from China (!), a Gold Disc in India, and Mithun became the first star after Raj Kapoor to become hugely popular in Russia.
32. It was also a luck year for Mithun personally as he had a quick registered marriage with Yogeeta Bali in this year.
33. 1983 saw Mithun play a gray role in Mujhe Insaf Chahiye opposite Rati Agnihotri. The film was to be directed by Phalke laureate L.V. Prasad, but he backed out on grounds of ill-health and only presented the film and directed a special sequence in it.
34. Gautam Guha’s Boxer was released in early 1984. Directed by Raj N. Sippy, it was said to be ghost-produced by Mithun. 1984 also saw Mithun do his first Hindi-Bengali bilingual, Jagir / Teen Murti produced and directed by Pramod Chakravorty.
35. 1985 was a benchmark year for him. Mithun did his first commercial film that was considered above the action and dance movies then—Pyar Jhukta Nahin. His fourth Golden Jubilee, its music by Laxmikant-Pyarelal was such a rage that it established T-Series, now Numero Uno, as a music label.
36. Mithun and Padmini Kolhapure became a hit team, and their subsequent hits included Pyari Behna, Muddat, Swarag Se Sunder, Hawalaat and Daata (Mithun’s fifth 50-weeker).
37. Mithun still continues doing Bengali films of all hues and success levels.
38. Mithun had a string of other hits in the 1980s, ending it in 1989 with a record 19 releases, something unequaled in the world for a lead artiste, and noted in the Limca Book of Records. The Hindi hits that year included Ilaaka, Prem Pratiggya, Mujrim (all with the emerging Numero Uno Madhuri Dixit Nene), Ladaai and Daata.
39. The 1990s began with a Filmfare Best Supporting Actor award for Agneepath, a flop film then that has become cult now, and the success Pati Patni Aur Tawaif, amidst a flurry of films.
40. By now, it was proved that most of Mithun’s filmmakers often tended to repeat him.
41. From 1994-1995, Mithun struck up a bond with T.L.V. Prasad with Janta Ki Adalat and Jallad. They formed a team that, along with other directors, gave rise to the “Ooty (the South hill station) phase” of Mithun’s career—small, template-based actioners with South starlets. Most were flops.
42. In this period, Mithun shifted to Ooty and turned hotelier with the Monarch Hotel.
43. Mithun’s social work includes setting up the Cine and TV Artistes’ Association (CINTAA) and the Film Studios Setting & Allied Mazdoor Union to help needy film workers.
44. Elected as Rajya Sabha member in 2014 with the Trinamool Congress, he quit in 2016, citing ill-health, and since 2021, has joined the Bharatiya Janata Party.
45. He won two more National awards, for the Bengali Tahedar Katha in 1993 and as Best Supporting Actor in Swami Vivekananda (1998), wherein he played Ramakrishna Paramhansa.

    

46. Guru, Golmaal 3, Housefull 2, Khiladi 786, OMG—Oh My God!, Kick, The Tashkent Files and The Kashmir Files remain his hits as a character artiste when he returned to Mumbai.
47. In 2015, he made his Telugu and Tamil debuts with Gopala Gopala and Yagavarayinum Naa Kaakka respectively and his Kannada debut with the The Villain.
48. He made his digital debut in 2022 with Prime Video’s web show, Bestseller. In 2023, he played the title role in Suman Ghosh’s Bengali hit, Kabuliwala.
49. Mithun has been Grand Master for Zee TV’s long-lasting dance talent show, Dance India Dance, and also its Bengali version, Dance Bangla Dance. He is said to have developed the show’s concept. He has also been a host on other TV shows and acted in the comedy, The Dance Company.
50. Mithun and Yogeeta have four children: Mahakshay (actor), Ushmey (Rimoh) and Namashi (actors and filmmakers) and Dishani Chakraborty. Yogeeta turned producer with Enemmy.