Veteran actor and politician Mithun Chakraborty received the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke Award at the 70th National Film Awards ceremony held at Vigyan Bhawan on the last day, honoring his lifetime achievements in Indian cinema. On being presented with the award by President Droupadi Murmu, he thanked people for recognition of his contributions to the film world.
While accepting his award, Mithun candidly spoke about skin color-based prejudices he had faced in the initial days of his career in Bollywood.
Many people had told him, “dark-skinned actors wouldn’t survive in Bollywood.” “I prayed to God, ‘Could you change my colour?”
Mithun Chakraborty Holds Back Tears On Receiving Dadasaheb Phalke Award, Gets Candid On Struggles
But Mithun eventually learned to accept his complexion and began to focus on honing his dancing skills. He wanted to be so good that even the audience forgot he was dusky. This led him to identify with his “s**y, dusky Bengali babu” persona.
Mithun also shared his career experiences and the challenges that came his way after he won the first National Award. He remembered how, after winning the first National Award, he began to think of himself as Al Pacino, treating all producers with disdain till a wake-up call in the form of being thrown out of a producer’s office by him.
Mithun said that whatever he achieves today is only because of his hard work. He mentioned that he learned to believe in God due to all the trouble he went through. He said, “I used to question God more than ever for my struggles, but after receiving this award, I am at peace, and I will never complain again.”
On the other hand, Mithun Chakraborty was last seen in the film ‘Shastri’ which was directed by Pathikrit Basu and written by Debarati Mukhopadhyay.
