Mithun- The Enigma. Review on Mithun Chakraborty

Last weekend we went to see the comeback vehicle of one of the cult figures of Indian cineworld, the vehicle was ''Elaan''the star was Mithun Chkraborthy. The movie started and there was a thunderous applause as soon as Mithun appeared on the screen. Mithun was in really new avatar, stylish, flamboyant. We can hear the constant cheering for this so called ?B-grade Star, Poor men?s Amitabh, the Czar of C-Grade Movies, India?s answer to John Travolta etc.Though I came out of the hall a bit disappointed as the movie had no substance apart from being stylishly shot in exotic locations of Italy, Germany and Switzerland. Director Vikram Bhatt had faltered again. But the movie made me think about this enigma called Mithun. The people has labeled him numerous time as flop here and he had survived time and again. I could not remember any other stars comeback getting so much attention in the media. His comeback stories were almost in all the papers and news channels and the star who was not interviewed or whose interview did not appear in any mainstream news channels suddenly found a place everywhere. I remember the launch party of ?Elaan?, when Mithun made a rare appearance at the launch parties in Mumbai, the moment he appeared at the party, the media person, rushed towards him, ignoring a galaxy of stars, which comprised people like Amitabh, Rajesh Khanna, Vinod Khanna, John Abraham etc. Within a few weeks of his return to the tinsel town, he had offers from top banners and directors. Mithun started his career with Mrigya in role of an ?Aadivasi? youth and got the national award for best actor but mainstream industry took no notice for his achievement and he was struggling to sustain himself. Once a reported visited him for his interview and he asked him to pay for his lunch only then he would give interview. But, Surendra Kapoor?s (father of Anil and Bony Kapoor) movie ?Surkasha? where he appeared on the screen imitating the western dancing stars changed the scenario, he got offers for numerous number of movies but for similar kind of role. The phase saw hits like Disco Dancer, Dance Dance, Kasam Paida karne wale ki, etc. It established Mithun as thenational dancing sensation. The word disco owes a lot to Mithun Chakraborty and vice versa. Streets were filled with Disco Hair Cutting Saloon to Disco Tailors. But K.C.Bokadia?s Pyar Jhukta Nahin, one of the biggest hits of that time, catapulted him to A grade star status. If one can look at the Mithun?s career, one very interesting fact would come out that he made his mark in the industry when both its superstars were present and working, Big B and Rajesh Khanna, that too without help of any big banner or big directors. He never worked with Subhash Ghai, Yash Chopra, Prakash Mehra. Today, no star can think of such kind of phenomenal success working with small directors. Mithun made new and so called b-grade directors into A-grade directors, B.Subhash, K Bappiah, Bapu, TLV PRasad these director?s career graph rose with Mithun?s career graph. Probably Mithun is one of the few star actors who made his mark in both parallel cinema and mainstream cinema. His second national award came for Tahedar Katha and third for Swami Vivekanad. His performance in Swami Vivekanand , as Ram Krishna Paramhansa is probably the best of his career. I remember reading the review of that movie in India Today, it recommended that movie for sheer brilliance of Mtihun?s acting. That movie made directors like Maniratnam to announce project with him. Maniratnam announced the multi-starrer, bi-lingual, big-budget movie Anandam with Mithun in lead role along with Aishwarya Roy and Mamooty. The music director was A.R. Rahman. Mithun refused the role as he was to shave his head for the movie and Mithun had , at that time, other commercial movies in making so he refused to do the role. His refusal, saw people like Anil Kapoor and Jackie Shrof (both were in prime phase of their career at that time) go for the role. But, Maniratnam, shelved the project. His movies like Gudiya and Title, got critical acclaim in all the major film festivals across the globe. For movie, Gudiya, he almost got his fourth national award.His acting talent is unquestionable and so his business sense. But, he was not able to manipulate persons, was not able to send blank fillers to top directors for a good role. He worked on his own rules and conditions. Some of his forthcoming movies are : ? Lucky ? No Time for Love (with Salman Khan)? Raakh (directed by Hanshal Mehta)? Paaji Tusi Great Ho? Chingaari (directed by Kalpana Laajmi)? Kaalpurush (along with Rahul Bose)By his selection of the movies we can say that he is here to satisfy the actor in himself and probably prove many of his critics wrong and most importantly the new generation movie goers will know what Mithun is.