|
The Mean Season!
Mithun Chakraborty has staged a comeback! He is back in Bollywood! Doing mean roles! Unfortunately, his comeback film, Elaan, fared miserably at the box-office! But is the three time National Award Winner fazed? Nah! I meet Mr. Chakraborty on the sets of Classic Dance of Love, recalling the days when I first met him thirty years ago, on the sets of his first film Mrigaya and is as confident as ever. And he confesses that at last, he is now at peace with himself.
Excerpts from an interview.
How did you feel making your comeback in films with Elaan?
Comeback!!! When did I ever say that I had left Bollywood, that I had retired from films? Never! I may not have been active in Bollywood but then I had always kept myself busy by acting in films on my own terms and conditions, that too on my own turf – Ooty.
What else were you up to there?
I’m busy managing a five-star hotel, The Monarch, my International Hotel Business School as well as a new International School.
All said and done, you did turn Ootywards, chucking away your film career in Bollywood.
I’m glad I did it at the right time. I had got saturated, flitting from one studio to another. Doing one film after another. Donning make-up, washing it away. Memorising reams of dialogues. Sitting at story sessions. Things began to get repetitive. I wanted to chart myself out in different directions. Let me rephrase myself. I wanted to do films, but… on my own terms. I did not want to make one film in five years. I did not want to die with my shoes on or feel insecure as an actor after my peak period as an actor. At one stage I even thought that my career was over since my films were flopping one after the other. The turning point in my career came with Dalaal.
So you felt the need to reinvent yourself! Does that explain the fact that in Elaan, for the first time in your career, you appeared as a villain?
You’re right! It was for the first time that I appeared as an out and out villain in Elaan, although I had played a bad man besides being a leading man in my earlier films like Jallad, Shaukeen, Swarg Ya Narak Yahan and Mujhe Insaaf Chahiye.
But does that matter to you, hero or villain?
An actor is an actor, whether he is playing a leading man (hero) or for that matter, a villain. I basically hail from the Film & Television Institute, Pune, where we were had been taught that it is not the role or the length of the role but the impact, which you are able to make with your role, which is important. It is a challenge for me to prove that I am not finished as an actor, because an actor can never forget his craft.
What do you think was the message conveyed through Elaan?
Elaan drove home the message that no one is born a criminal. But when one becomes one, how long one stays and why, is the question that needs an answer.
In the wake of Elaan, have you signed on any other film, besides B. Subhash’s Classic Dance of Love in the wake of Elaan?
Besides Classic Dance of Love, I will be also seen as a bad man in four more films – Salman Khan’s home production Lucky, Hansal Mehta’s Raakh, Kalpana Lajmi’s Chingari and Rajesh Bhatt’s Tusi Great Ho Paaji. Well, Tusi Great Ho Paaji is a crossover film with two British girls opposite me. I play someone called Hazaar Singh who calls himself Thousanda Singh. On the whole, my career has been a very eventful and event-filled journey, having acted in around 317 films. That includes, till date, both, my films in Hindi as well as in my mother tongue, Bengali, in a span of nearly thirty years.
Are you grooming your eldest son towards a career in Bollywood?
Yes. Our eldest son Mahaakshay, who Yogeeta and I fondly call Mimoh, is at the moment being thoroughly groomed. If everything goes as planned, Deepak Sareen who had directed Aaina will launch Mimoh as a leading man in a big way. Being the son of Yogeeta and me, Mimoh has the making of an actor in him. What he is ultimately able to make out of his career remains to be seen though I am confident that he will outcross me as far as his innings in Bollywood is concerned.
How would you rate your him as an actor?
I have told my friends like Ratan Jain of Venus and Deepak Sareen to take Mahaakshay as a product by himself, not as the son of Mithun Chakraborty. I told them, “Only take him if he is saleable.†I have given both of them my word, though there are producers who are keen on launching my son as an actor. I do not want Mimoh to get preferential treatment and respect just because he happens to be my son. I have told Mimoh not to be a copycat and develop his own style instead of following mine.
How many children do you have besides Mahaakshay?
Yogeeta and I have four children. Besides Mahaakshay there is Ushmei and Namoshi besides our daughter Dishani. It is very difficult for me to be very objective about our own children. Mimoh is, in fact, also a better dancer than me. I look forward to the day when people would fondly refer me as the father of Mimoh.
How do you feel when you look back at your career?
I feel proud that I have achieved name and fame though I never did a film for any big banner like Yashji or Subhash Ghai or for that matter Manmohan Desai. Whatever I have done has been on my own steam and merit.
How would you evaluate your growth in the film industry?
I think, honestly, I have been a fluke.
Even with more than a couple of National Awards in your belt?
Every struggler enters the industry wishing to get a chance as an actor. Then he wishes that he were a star. When he is a star, he wishes that stardom remained forever with him. I too am no exception to the rule. I am happy with whatever God has given me till date.
|
Login 
Register
FAQ
Search
Yes, he was in there for a 3-4 min appearance.
