16th June 1947 is a significant day in the history of Indian cinema because it was on this day superstar Mithun Chakraborty, the undisputed number one in late eighties was born.

To begin with Mithun Chakraborty shot into fame for bagging the national award for the best actor for his performance in Mrigaya released in 1976.  However it was Disco Dancer released on 17th December 1982 which made Mithun Chakraboty a big star on par with the likes of Jeetendra, Dharmendra and Amitabh Bachan.  Disco Dancer is one movie which will be remembered by millions of movie fans much in the same vein as Sholay.  If Sholay ended an era of romantic movies, Disco Dancer introduced dancing in India and capitulated Mithun Chakrabory to superstardom.

What made Mithun Chakraborty special was the fact that he was a rare actor who was adept in non commercial national award winning movies like Mrigaya and very much ease at delivering action packed blockbusters like Disco Dancer.  If that was not enough he was equally ease at family oriented movies like Pyar Jhuktha Nahin released in 1984 which hardly had any action.  While Mithun was equally at ease in any type of movies it was his dancing and stunts which caught the imagination of millions.  Mithun churned out hits in succession in late eighties with movies like Dance Dance, Swarag Se Sunder, Commando, Jaal, Jeete Hain Shan Se and a host of other movies. 

There was a time when Mithun Chakrabory could not marry the girl of his choice because his prospective father in law considered Mithun financially unfit to take care of his daughter. The same Mithun went on to become India's most sought after superstar and there was a time in late eighties when he was booked for 15 years which media hyped superstars of the modern era can only dream of.  Mithun Chakraborty also had the distinction of being Indias highest tax payer for five consecutive years. There was a time when top heroines were reluctant to work with Mithun when he was struggling to make a mark in the industry but at the peak of his career in the late eighties these heroines were competing to each other to be paired opposite Mithun.

Once Amitabh took a break from movies after a injury sustained on the sets of Sholay, Mithun Chakraborty took over the mantle of number one.  Mithun held the distinction of being the number one till he decided to take a break from movies in early nineties to take care of his hotel business and after initial failure his hotel business like his movies became a big hit.  However the likes of Shahrukh Khan who made their debuts during the break period took advantage of Mithun's absence to cement their places in Bollywood.

Today on his birthday, let us wish Mithun who introduced Disco Dance in India a very very happy and wonderful birthday.

• Written by N R SATISH.
• In category Movies.
• 14 years ago.

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