From Sleeping on Footpaths to Bollywood's Disco Dancer

Mithun Chakraborty, born Gouranga Chakraborty, is one of the best-known actors in Indian cinema. Before he became a film star, he has said, he did not always have a secure place to sleep. Gulf News reported on a conversation on the video blog of the film-maker Farah Khan, in which these early years were discussed. The article gives no specific years or cities for them.

Khan said that her uncle, the screenwriter KK Shukla, who wrote films for Amitabh Bachchan, had told her Chakraborty used to attend parties to dance for dinner. He reportedly did not charge a fee and accepted a meal instead, so that he could get something to eat at night. Khan said that people use the word struggle casually, but this is what real struggle looks like.

In the same segment, Chakraborty recalled sleeping on the streets and footpaths. He described becoming so exhausted while walking that he fell asleep on the pavement and woke up there.

His film debut was Mrinal Sen's Mrigayaa in 1976, which won him the National Film Award for Best Actor. His breakthrough in mainstream cinema came with the 1979 thriller Surakshaa, and he went on to headline hits including Disco Dancer, Dance Dance and Commando. In the 1980s he appeared in more than 100 films, often shooting several at once, and he kept working in Bengali cinema. Over more than five decades he has acted in films in Hindi, Bengali, Bhojpuri, Telugu, Odia, Tamil, Kannada and Punjabi, and he became a well-known judge and host on television.

He is a three-time National Film Award winner and a four-time Filmfare Award winner, received the Padma Bhushan in 2024, and has been honoured with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award for his contribution to Indian cinema.