Beyond the jumble of method and spontaneity, there is a Mithun Chakraborty school of acting in the realm of cinema that simply classifies a performance between convincing and unconvincing. Almost five decades after the swarthy and handsome young man burst onto the scene with his intense portrayal of a young tribal cheated by the system in Mrinal Sen’s Mrigayaa, the nation rewarded his craft of persuasion this week with the government presenting him with the Dada Saheb Phalke Award. the highest honor in the field of cinema.
What makes Mithun special is his persistence and versatility. He could be an easy star as well as deliver a compelling performance without making a show out of it. He could give credit to a larger-than-life Jallad (1995) or Chandaal (1998) and almost at the same time make you cry with a moving portrayal of the saintly Ramakrishna Praramhansa in Swami Vivekanand (1998) and the unsung freedom fighter Sibnath in Tahader Katha (1992), where he would squeeze out the last ounce of vanity.
Here is an actor who can catch bullets on screen and then continue to express the plight of a character who is so tortured by the colonial police that he cannot control his bowel movements, but when he is freed, the victim does not seem to it’s worth it.
Opportunities do not come easily to a trained actor. After Mrigayaa, it took him two years of soul-testing struggle to find acceptance in commercial cinema. Rarely patronized by Bollywood giants, he rose above camp and condescending labeling to carve out a niche. With titles like Daata Garibon Ka Daata in 1989, he was indeed the poor man’s hope when Amitabh Bachchan was no longer angry and young. The two came together in Gangaa Jamunaa Saraswati (1988) and Agneepath (1990)
The disco dancer
When Friday fever became too hot to handle, he shifted his base to Ooty to create an industry of B-movies around him. He believes that being consistently popular with millions is a bigger challenge than winning critical acclaim.
A man who owes his popularity to fate, fame rests easily on Mithun’s lithe figure. His smile disarms even the harshest cynics, and his charm works across class divides. According to your taste and age, Mithun can evoke different emotions in you. For some, he is our first desi James Bond, whose craziness as Gunmaster G9 in Surakshaa continues to be reflected in memes. Some continue to idolize his Elvis-inspired hip thrusts, which made him a dance phenomenon with Disco Dancer. From Motihari to Moscow, his Jimmy Jimmy avatar and signature dance move still drives the crowds crazy and inspires a new generation of actors.
To his female fans, he continues to be the boy-next-door singing romantic ballads on the hills as he grapples with the challenges of love and family in Pyar Jhukta Nahin, Pyar Ka Mandir and several other titles that begin with the word ‘Pyar’ (love) or the gentle lead of Basu Chatterjee’s middle-of-the-road cinema with a message like Pasand Apni Apni and Sheesha. If Hindi cinema made him a star, Mithun got an opportunity to express complex human relationships in Bangla films where he worked with stalwarts like Mrinal Sen, Buddhadeb Dasgupta and Rituparno Ghosh and won two National Awards for Best Actor. His masterful turns in Titli (2002), Kaalpurush (2005), Shukno Lanka (2010) and the recent Kabuliwala exemplify his commitment to meaningful cinema.
Mithun’s politics are as flexible as his acting range. Starting from a far-left ideology during his student days, he joined the Congress after the Emergency, followed by a brief innings in the Trinamool Congress, which sent him to the Rajya Sabha, before switching to the right. As a media survivor, observers point out that sometimes an actor’s personal life determines his professional and political choices.
Despite being off social media, he continues to enjoy a loyal fan base that keeps his appeal at the box office and campaign rallies intact. At 74, Mithun has half a dozen films on the sets. If you ask him if he still has any fire left in his tank, he will reply in his trademark style: “Koi Shaque?” (Any doubt).
Published – October 06, 2024, 01:22 AM IST
