Dadasaheb Phalke Award: Mithun Chakraborty’s revolutionary reward

Mithun Chakraborty. | Photo Credit: ANI

In an industry that promotes a new god every Friday, Mithun Chakraborty’s has been a story of resilience. Announced as the recipient of the Dadasaheb Phalke Award on Monday (September 30, 2024), Mithun Chakraborty has never been a prisoner of image. From arthouse to mainstream commercial cinemas to even straight fare on the frontbenchers, he has tackled different genres with ease.

Starting with Mrinal Sen’s Mrigayaa in 1976, he may have been the only major actor to make the successful transition from arthouse cinema to commercial potboilers and back. While Naseeruddin Shah, Shabana Azmi, Om Puri and Smita Patil performed with limited success in mainstream cinema after filming their role in the same cinema, Mithun was the only one who got a good cherry.

In parallel cinema, he worked with the likes of Mrinal Sen, Buddhadeb Dasgupta and Goutam Ghose, winning three National Awards in the process. Switched to the best fare in favor of B. Subash, KC Bokadia, Manmohan Desai and Parto Ghosh without interruption, giving his fans films like Disco Dancer, Dance dance, Pyar Jhukta Nahin, Ganga Jumna Saraswati, Agneepath again The Dalaaletc. Director B. Subash’s Disco Dancer got Mithun an international fan following the rich film in the Soviet Union, Japan and China apart from India. For a few years in the mid-80s, he was the most famous Indian abroad. At a time when Hindi cinema was dominated by Salim-Javed’s ‘Angry Young Man’, Mithun rewrote the rules of the box office with. Disco Dancerwhere Bappi Lahiri’s music and his dance numbers ensured a repeat audience.

For a brief period in the late 80s, he challenged Amitabh Bachchan for the top position in Hindi cinema, prompting Desai to give him a good role. Ganga Jamunaa Saraswatia rarity in Hindi cinema where many heroes played second fiddle to Bachchan.

However, Mithun’s lasting claim to fame has to be his foray into serious cinema where his work in films like Tahader Katha, The Kaalpurush, Swami Vivekanand again Gudiya he is still remembered. With his steady work in arthouse cinema, he challenged the idea that the hero of Hindi cinema could not cash in on neorealism. Tahader Katha, The Kaalpurush, Swami Vivekanand again Mrigaya, each received a National Award giving Mithun his own place in serious cinema, and ensuring that his popularity went from day one screenings to the film festival circuit.

There is, however, another aspect of Mithun’s work that has not been widely appreciated. He is probably the first A-grade star to work in films for a non-comprehending audience. In the mid-90s, Mithun revamped the economics of cinema by shooting films exclusively in Ooty with regular casts including Hemant Birje, Gautami, Deepti Bhatnagar, Kiran Kumar and Raza Murad with music by Dilip Sen- Sameer Sen. films, made on a shoe-string budget of around Rs 40 lakh, are completed within a month or so and are released without popularity in small centres. The movies are similar Jallad, Chandal, Duck, Hitler, Don again A cheetah it was not heard in big cities but it earned the producers a lot of profit besides keeping Mithun’s staunch fans in small towns happy. Interestingly, while GV Iyer took 11 years to complete Mithun’s research Swami Vivekanandthe star completed more than 20 films!

In recent times, Mithun has played supporting roles in the same films IKashmir Files again Tashkent filesevents that may have gone some way in convincing three judges including former Dadasaheb awardee Asha Parekh, actor and politician Khushbu Sundar and filmmaker Vipul Amrutlal Shah to choose Mithun Chakraborty for the highest honor in Indian cinema.