When Mithun Chakraborty said heroines refused to work with him as ‘other heroes did not want them to’
On his 71st birthday, here is revisiting an old interview of Mithun Chakraborty, in which he talked about how female actors did not want to work with him at the behest of other male actors.
With his very first film, Mrigayaa, Mithun Chakraborty won the National Film Award for Best Actor. He rose to stardom in the late 1970s and in the 1980s, he was practically ruling Bollywood. However, success did not come easy to him.
As Mithun Chakraborty turns 71, here is revisiting an interview, where he said that female actors refused to work with him on the advice of other male actors. He talked about facing a ‘lot of obstacles’ back in the day and expressed gratitude to Zeenat Aman for agreeing to work with him.
Talking to Headlines Today in 2010, Mithun said that he did not want to talk about his struggle in Bollywood, as it is ‘so depressing’. “I don’t want to demoralise or discourage so many people,” he said.
Mithun also talked about being targeted by other leading men. “I won’t take names, I don’t want to get into that. Of course, when I became a star… How much it is true, I don’t know, but I could hear that heroines are refusing to work with me because the other heroes did not want them to work with me. I did face a lot of obstacles but I thought, if I am good, one day, they will come to me. Maybe I am lacking somewhere, which is why they are saying no to me, so I must correct myself. Somewhere, I am 99, I have to be 100,” he had said.
Mithun thanked Zeenat Aman for agreeing to work with him. The two starred in films such as Taqdeer, Hum Se Hai Zamana and Yaadon Ki Kasam in the 1980s. “I will remain ever-grateful to Zeenat Aman ji for that, to break that barrier and get into the A-grade of stardom,” he had said.
Up next, Mithun will be seen in The Kashmir Files, directed by Vivek Agnihotri. The film will tell the story of the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from their homeland in 1989 and 1990.
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