“My Dear Friend Mithun Deserves Every Bit Of The Recognition,” Shatrughan Sinha On His Friend Mithun Chakraborty Getting The Dadasaheb Phalke
Legendary Bollywood actors Shatrughan Sinha and Mithun Chakraborty have not only been contemporaries but also close friends. Their shared struggles as outsiders and their journeys to stardom have only strengthened their bond. And now that Mithun da is finally being recognised for his extraordinary contributions to Indian cinema, Sinha couldn't be happier.
In an exclusive interview with Zoom, the Khan Dost actor expressed his delight over the news of Chakraborty being conferred with the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke Award. Read excerpts here!
Your colleague Mithun Chakraborty has been conferred the Dadasaheb Phalke?
And not a day too soon! Mithun, my friend and colleague, deserves every bit of the recognition that comes his way. He is very dedicated, hardworking, talented and self-made like me.
You mean the struggle of the outsider?
Jee haan. How many strugglers from outside the film industry succeed in finding a place over here? Hamare baad, Shah Rukh Khan, John Abraham, Sushant Singh Rajput. Now there is that very talented boy Kartik Aaryan. Mithun and I share the sincerity of a hard struggle. We’ve never taken anything for granted. We share other commonalities.
Please tell me about them?
Our love for Bengali cinema, although I am not a Bengali, my best film to date is Goutam Ghose’s Antarjali Yatra in Bengali. Likewise, Mithun Chakraborty’s best, rather one his best performances, was in Mrinal Sen’s Mrigaya. I think he won the National award for Mrigaya. He deserves many more awards.
How is he as a co-star?
I’ve done quite a few films with Mithun including Taqdeer, Humse Na Takrana and Sagar Sargam. He is always professional, always great fun to work with. I look forward to working with him again.