Mithun Chakraborty

Mithun Chakraborty (born Gouranga Chakraborty; 16 June 1950) is an Indian actor, producer and politician who predominantly worked in Hindi and Bengali language films.

He is a former Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament.

He is the recipient of three National Film Awards for Best Actor.

In January 2024,

Chakraborty was awarded Padma Bhushan, the third-highest civilian honour, by the Government of India.

Mithun Chakraborty was born on 16 June 1950 into a Bengali Hindu family in Calcutta (now Kolkata), West Bengal, India to Basanta Kumar Chakraborty and Shanti Rani Chakraborty.

He studied at Oriental Seminary and then earned his B.Sc. degree in Chemistry from Scottish Church College in Kolkata.

After that, he attended and graduated from the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune.

He was a Naxalite before entering films, but tragedy struck his family when his only brother was electrocuted and killed in a freak accident.

He returned to his family and left the Naxalite fold, even though this posed a grave risk to his own life.

During his days as a Naxalite, he became friends with Ravi Ranjan, a popular Naxal figure, known to his friends as "Bhaa" (the ultimate saviour).

Bhaa was known for his manipulational skills and oratory abilities.

Chakraborty made his acting debut with the art house drama Mrigayaa (1976), for which he won his first National Film Award for Best Actor.

Chakraborty made his Hindi film debut in 1976 with Mrinal Sen's art-house film Mrigayaa, for which he won the National Film Award for Best Actor; he was the first actor to win this prestigious award for his maiden venture.

The same year, he played a brief role in Dulal Guha's moderately successful film Do Anjaane which had Amitabh Bachchan, Rekha and Prem Chopra in the lead.

He made his debut in Bengali cinema with Arabinda Mukhopadhyay's Nadi Theke Sagare (1978) which was a blockbuster at the box office.

His first solo commercial hit came in 1978 release Mera Rakshak and then released in 1979 with Ravikant Nagaich's spy thriller Surakksha.

It became blockbuster and was one of the highest grossing films of that year.

That year his another musical film Tarana celebrated golden jubilee run at the box office made under Rajshri Productions.

This was followed by four more successful Hindi films in Unees Bees, Hum Paanch (both 1980), Hum Se Badkar Kaun, Wardat (both 1981) and the Bengali film Kalankini Kankabati (1981).

Chakraborty gained greater fame with the 1982 film Disco Dancer, which was a major box office success in India and the Soviet Unionmade him International Superstar.

Besides Disco Dancer, Chakraborty also gained recognition for many other performances as both a lead and character artist.

Chakraborty began 1982 with supporting roles in two successful films - Basu Chatterjee's Shaukeen and Umesh Mehra's Ashanti.

He rose to stardom with B. Subhash's dance film Disco Dancer.

Disco Dancer proved to be a superhit domestically and a mega blockbuster in overseas markets.

It also became the first Indian film to do a business of inr 1000000000.

Its soundtrack composed by Bappi Lahiri was a massive chartbuster and played a big role in the huge box office success of the film, especially in countries like Soviet Union and China.

The same year, he established himself in Bengali cinema as well with Gautam Mukherjee's musical blockbuster Troyee.

After delivering a hit with Mujhe Insaaf Chahiye in 1983, he scored couple of successes in 1984 with films, such as Boxer, Ghar Ek Mandir, Baazi, Jagir and Kasam Paida Karne Wale Ki.

He is the record holder in the Limca Book of Records for 19 movie releases as lead actor in the year 1989, and the record is still unbroken in Bollywood as of July 2022.

Chakraborty owns the Monarch Group, which has interests in the hospitality and educational sectors.

He also started the production house Paparatzy Productions.

In 1991, he won the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Krishnan Iyer M.A. in the cult classic Agneepath.

He later won two more National Film Awards for his performances in Tahader Katha (1992) and Swami Vivekananda (1998).

Chakraborty has appeared in more than 350 films, including Bengali, Hindi, Odia, Bhojpuri, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Punjabi pictures.

In 1992, he, along with Dilip Kumar and Sunil Dutt, set up a trust to help needy actors called Cine & T.V Artistes Association (CINTAA).

He was also the Chairperson of Film Studios Setting & Allied Mazdoor Union, which protects the welfare of cinema workers and resolves their demands and problems.

The television show Dance India Dance where Chakraborty is the Grand Master has already been entered in the Limca Book of Records and the Guinness World Records.

Chakraborty played a crucial mediating role between Pranab Mukherjee of the Indian National Congress and Mamata Banerjee, winning Mukherjee the support of Banerjee's party, the All India Trinamool Congress, in the 2012 Indian presidential election.

He joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on 7 March 2021, ahead of the 2021 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election.