Mithun Chakraborty

Mithun Chakraborty is a film actor who has played the lead in some 270 to 300 films. He was named for the Padma Bhushan in 2024 in the field of art, from West Bengal ^[1].

A winning start

He was born on 16 June 1950 and trained at the Film and Television Institute of India in Pune ^[2]. In his very first film, Mrigaya (1976), he played a young tribal man and won the National Award for best actor ^[2]. He later won two more National Awards for acting: for the Bengali film Tahader Katha, playing a freedom fighter, and for Swami Vivekananda, playing Ramakrishna Paramahansa ^[2].

Star

He has acted in Hindi, Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Odia, Punjabi and Bhojpuri films ^[2]. He became especially popular in Russia and eastern Europe, and his citation credits him with taking commercial Hindi cinema overseas ^[2]. Songs from his film Disco Dancer are still widely loved ^[2]. He holds a Limca record for the most film releases in a single year, and was among India’s top income-tax payers from 1994–95 to 1998–99 ^[2]. He also helped popularise small and medium-budget films, which opened doors for new producers, directors and actors ^[2].

Beyond the screen

Chakraborty has raised awareness of the blood disorder thalassaemia ^[2]. He chaired a film workers’ union for 30 years and was president of the Cine and TV Artistes’ Association, working for the welfare of film workers in Mumbai ^[2].