Mumbai, On 8 October 2024, Bollywood actor Mithun Chakraborty has been honored with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award. The actor has been felicitated during the '70th National Film Awards', the world's most prestigious award ceremony of Indian cinema.
He has been honored by President Draupadi Murmu. Having worked in more than 350 films, Mithun has made his name all over India with his acting. While leaving for the award, the actor expressed his happiness at the honor and said, Thank God for such a great honour.
Expressing his happiness on receiving this award, Mithun said, Had I been given a dialogue, I would have spoken but, I have been asked to give a speech, I don't know what to say. All I can say is that I have come to this platform three times with your blessings.
But there are many things about the first time I won the National Award that I have not told anyone. When he got it, people started saying hey, you have got National Award. So I got so mad that I did something big. My mind went crazy after receiving the National Award.
I started thinking of myself as Al Pacino. I walked into the director-producer's office and started yawning. I used to say send the story of the film to my house. Then one of the producers kicked me and asked me to leave. Then I realized that no one will give me work anymore. Everyone accepted me as an actor later. But people used to tease me a lot because of my color.
People used to call me Kalia while walking on the road. I thought the color couldn't be changed. I told God that God cannot change color. So I started dancing and people forgot my color and I became a sexy, dusky, Bengali babu. Let me tell you that when Mithun was announced with the Dada Saheb Phalke Award, he expressed his happiness.
He said – I never imagined that a boy from the footpath could get such a great honour. He said, 'A man who was nothing, who had no name, achieved all this. I always say this to my fans and financially weak people, if I can reach this place you can too.SS1MS