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MITHUN CHAKRABORTY: THE DADA OF BOLLYWOOD
At a time when tall, fair and handsome was a must for any Bollywood male lead, dark-skinned Mithun was forced to beg for work. His perseverance led to his debut movie Mrigayaa in 1976 and won him his first National Award. Soon, he set the industry ablaze with his pelvic thrusts in Disco Dancer.
Mithun’s life can be looked at through three distinct lenses—personal, professional and political. He divorced actor Helena Luke within four months of marriage. He then married Yogeeta Bali, immediately after her divorce from Kishore Kumar. Within months of the birth of Mithun’s son, he was introduced to Sridevi by his very good friend Boney Kapoor. The ensuing storm eventually ended and he went back to Yogeeta.
Mithun is a former Naxalite who later aligned with Indira Gandhi post Emergency. After a hiatus from politics, he joined the Trinamool Congress and became a Rajya Sabha MP but soon resigned from parliament citing health issues. In March 2021, he pledged his allegiance to the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Mithun has won three National Awards and worked with the best of directors including Mrinal Sen, Buddhadeb Dasgupta, Rituparno Ghosh and Mani Ratnam. From playing a rural hunter to portraying Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa, Mithun has broken the mould over and over again. He single-handedly ran a parallel Hindi film industry from Ooty in the ’80s and ’90s and acted in a series of B-grade
Bollywood films to pay off massive loans.
From Salman to Shah Rukh, from Varun Dhawan to Tiger Shroff, from Akshay Kumar to Abhishek Bachchan, Mithun is openly admired by Bollywood’s top heroes and yet he is barely present on any social media platform. Mithun says, ‘Kharide hue fans aur followers movie aur maiyaat pe nahin aate! (Fans and followers who can be bought will neither watch your films nor come to your funeral!)’
That’s Mithun da… koi shaque (any doubt)?
Mithun’s life can be looked at through three distinct lenses—personal, professional and political. He divorced actor Helena Luke within four months of marriage. He then married Yogeeta Bali, immediately after her divorce from Kishore Kumar. Within months of the birth of Mithun’s son, he was introduced to Sridevi by his very good friend Boney Kapoor. The ensuing storm eventually ended and he went back to Yogeeta.
Mithun is a former Naxalite who later aligned with Indira Gandhi post Emergency. After a hiatus from politics, he joined the Trinamool Congress and became a Rajya Sabha MP but soon resigned from parliament citing health issues. In March 2021, he pledged his allegiance to the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Mithun has won three National Awards and worked with the best of directors including Mrinal Sen, Buddhadeb Dasgupta, Rituparno Ghosh and Mani Ratnam. From playing a rural hunter to portraying Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa, Mithun has broken the mould over and over again. He single-handedly ran a parallel Hindi film industry from Ooty in the ’80s and ’90s and acted in a series of B-grade
Bollywood films to pay off massive loans.
From Salman to Shah Rukh, from Varun Dhawan to Tiger Shroff, from Akshay Kumar to Abhishek Bachchan, Mithun is openly admired by Bollywood’s top heroes and yet he is barely present on any social media platform. Mithun says, ‘Kharide hue fans aur followers movie aur maiyaat pe nahin aate! (Fans and followers who can be bought will neither watch your films nor come to your funeral!)’
That’s Mithun da… koi shaque (any doubt)?
- GenresBiography
206 pages, Paperback
Published August 10, 2021
2 people are currently reading
9 people want to read
About the author
Ram Kamal Mukherjee
7 books6 followersRam Kamal Mukherjee (Bengali: রাম কমল মুখার্জী) (born 1976) is a Bollywood film journalist and critic. He is best known for his coffee-table book on actress Hema Malini, Hema Malini Diva Unveiled from 2005. He has been a journalist for Screen (now Hotstar), The Asian Age, Stardust and the Mumbai Mirror, and is the former Vice-President of Pritish Nandy Communications.[1][2][3] [4][5] After working with Stardust, now he is writing his first fiction for Leadstart Publishing.
In 2016 he was working as producer with Rajshree Ojha for the TV series Bin Kuch Kahe.[6][7] He released the short story collection Long Island Iced Tea, a collection of eight short stories. Published by Leadstart Publishing this 154 pages book is his first foray into fiction.
In 2016 he was working as producer with Rajshree Ojha for the TV series Bin Kuch Kahe.[6][7] He released the short story collection Long Island Iced Tea, a collection of eight short stories. Published by Leadstart Publishing this 154 pages book is his first foray into fiction.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
June 16, 2022
✔️ “The brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough. They’re there to stop the other people”.
✔️ In the light of the underlying simplicity which can be perceived from the title of the book, the one at hand primarily revolves around an individual who shaped a separate identity of his own with his sheer dedication and hard work and surely left a mark on the Bollywood industry.
✔️ Further divided into 206 pages, the book has been further divided into 13 chapters with each of the titles being a portent of something fascinating.
✔️ The first chapter of the book takes the readers back to the disturbing period of 1968 when Kolkata was ridden with all forms of violence and those which were mainly politically motivated further this chapter hints at the origins of Mithun.
✔️ Further, the remaining chapters in a precise fashion trace the entire journey of Mithun Chakraborty as can be seen from chapters like “Stranger in the city” and a steady pace is maintained by the author concerning the flow of the chapters which entails the readers having sufficient time to grasp the intricacies of Mithun’s life.
✔️ The writing style of the book has been kept simple and easy to understand and this remains to be the major striking factor of the book.
✔️ Additionally, the presentation aspect of the book is also to be taken into account as it is very gripping and this is evident from the disco image which is present in the prologue section, thus reminding the readers of something which led him to the pinnacle of his career.
✔️ Thus this book is a must read for anyone willing to read and revel in the divine labyrinthine life of the Dada of Bollywood.
✔️ In the light of the underlying simplicity which can be perceived from the title of the book, the one at hand primarily revolves around an individual who shaped a separate identity of his own with his sheer dedication and hard work and surely left a mark on the Bollywood industry.
✔️ Further divided into 206 pages, the book has been further divided into 13 chapters with each of the titles being a portent of something fascinating.
✔️ The first chapter of the book takes the readers back to the disturbing period of 1968 when Kolkata was ridden with all forms of violence and those which were mainly politically motivated further this chapter hints at the origins of Mithun.
✔️ Further, the remaining chapters in a precise fashion trace the entire journey of Mithun Chakraborty as can be seen from chapters like “Stranger in the city” and a steady pace is maintained by the author concerning the flow of the chapters which entails the readers having sufficient time to grasp the intricacies of Mithun’s life.
✔️ The writing style of the book has been kept simple and easy to understand and this remains to be the major striking factor of the book.
✔️ Additionally, the presentation aspect of the book is also to be taken into account as it is very gripping and this is evident from the disco image which is present in the prologue section, thus reminding the readers of something which led him to the pinnacle of his career.
✔️ Thus this book is a must read for anyone willing to read and revel in the divine labyrinthine life of the Dada of Bollywood.
March 19, 2023
Simply loved reading Mithun.
A pure example of- from rags to riches.
A pure example of- from rags to riches.
April 22, 2023
Truly a captivating story of the rise of Mithun! Inspiring!
February 15, 2024
Potential material for a good commercial Bollywood potboiler.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews