Mithun Chakraborty (born Gouranga Chakraborty; 16 June 1950) is an Indian actor, film producer, entrepreneur and politician. In a career spanning over five decades, he has done 350 films, mostly in Hindi and Bengali languages, and a few in Bhojpuri, Telugu, Odia, Tamil, Kannada, and Punjabi. Referred to as "Mahaguru" (Bengali for "The Great Teacher"), he is a former Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament. He is the recipient of three National Film Awards and four Filmfare Awards. In January 2024, Chakraborty was awarded the Padma Bhushan, the third-highest civilian honour by the Government of India. He was also awarded India's highest accolade in the field of cinema, the Dadasaheb Phalke Award for the year 2022, whose announcement came from the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in September 2024.
Chakraborty made his acting debut with art house drama Mrigayaa (1976), directed by Mrinal Sen, for which he won his first National Film Award for Best Actor. His major breakthrough role came with Bengali film Nadi Theke Sagare (1978). Chakraborty gained greater fame with the 1982 film Disco Dancer, which was a major box office success in India and the Soviet Union. Besides Disco Dancer, Chakraborty also gained recognition for many other performances as both a lead and character artist. Chakraborty's performance in Agneepath won him the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1990.
Chakraborty owns the Monarch Group, which has interests in the hospitality and educational sectors. He also started the production house Paparatzy Productions. In 1992, he, along with Dilip Kumar and Sunil Dutt, set up a trust to help actors in need of assistance called the Cine & T.V Artistes Association (CINTAA). He was also the Chairperson of Film Studios Setting & Allied Mazdoor Union, which protects the welfare of cinema workers and resolves their demands and problems. The television show Dance India Dance, where Chakraborty was the Grand Master, also entered in the Limca Book of Records and the Guinness World Records. Chakraborty played a crucial mediating role between Pranab Mukherjee of the Indian National Congress and Mamata Banerjee, winning Mukherjee the support of Banerjee's party, the All India Trinamool Congress, in the 2012 Indian presidential election. He joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on 7 March 2021, ahead of the 2021 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election.
Mithun Chakraborty was born on 16 June 1950 into a Bengali Hindu family in Calcutta (now Kolkata), West Bengal, India to Basanta Kumar Chakraborty and Shanti Rani Chakraborty. He studied at Oriental Seminary and later dropped out after completing his B.Sc. second year in Chemistry from Scottish Church College in Kolkata. Later, he attended and graduated from the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune. He was a Naxalite before entering films, but tragedy struck his family. It is widely reported that his only brother was electrocuted and killed in an accident, whereas his sister Kalyani has confirmed to journalist Pankaj Shukla and others who reached her, that Mithun is the only son of his parents. He returned to his family and left the Naxalite ideology, even though this posed a grave risk to his own life.
Chakraborty made his Hindi film debut in 1976 with Mrinal Sen's art-house film Mrigayaa, for which he won the National Film Award for Best Actor. That same year, he played a brief role in Dulal Guha's hit thriller Do Anjaane which starred Amitabh Bachchan, Rekha and Prem Chopra in the lead.
In 1978, Chakraborty made his debut in Bengali cinema with Arabinda Mukhopadhyay's romantic blockbuster Nadi Theke Sagare. He also co-starred alongside Rameshwari in Mera Rakshak. A remake of R. Thyagarajan's own directional venture Aattukara Alamelu (1977), it performed well commercially. In 1979, Chakraborty delivered another hit with Ravikant Nagaich's spy thriller Surakksha. This was followed by a string of successful films, such as Taraana (1979), Patita (1980), Unees-Bees (1980), Hum Paanch (1980) and Hum Se Badhkar Kaun (1981) and the Bengali film Kalankini Kankabati (1981).
In 1982, Chakraborty had a string of successes with Shaukeen, Ashanti and Taqdeer Ka Badshah. He shot to Superstardom in the same year with B. Subhash's dance film Disco Dancer. The film proved to be a hit domestically and an "all-time blockbuster" in overseas markets. It became the first Indian film to gross ₹1 billion (US$10 million). The soundtrack, composed by Bappi Lahiri, was successful in the charts and played a large role in the box office success of the film, especially in countries like Soviet Union and China. The same year, Chakraborty established himself in Bengali cinema with Gautam Mukherjee's musical blockbuster Troyee. In 1983, he played lead roles in T. Rama Rao and Deepak Bahry's commercially successful films - Mujhe Insaaf Chahiye and Hum Se Hai Zamana, respectively, and Basu Chatterjee's critically acclaimed light-hearted romance Pasand Apni Apni. The following year, he appeared alongside Shashi Kapoor, Moushmi Chatterjee and Ranjeeta in the family drama film Ghar Ek Mandir. At release, it was derided by critics, but went on to become a success at the box office. The box office success of Ghar Ek Mandir was followed by two more successes in Baazi and Kasam Paida Karne Wale Ki.
Chakraborty hit his peak in the mid-1980s. In 1985, he acted in Vijay Sadanah's romantic drama Pyar Jhukta Nahin, opposite Padmini Kolhapure. The film opened to excellent audience response and went on to become a blockbuster and Mithun became Numerouno of Bollywood . The soundtrack, composed by Laxmikant–Pyarelal, became the tenth best-selling Hindi film album of the 1980s. Chakraborty followed it with a superhit in J. P. Dutta's action drama Ghulami, co-starring Dharmendra, Naseeruddin Shah, Reena Roy, Smita Patil and Anita Raj. His other major commercial success that year was another of B. Subhash's directional ventures, Aandhi-Toofan. Chakraborty's run continued in 1986 with K. Bapayya's blockbuster family drama film Swarag Se Sunder, which also starred Jeetendra, Jaya Prada and Kolhapure in the lead. That same year, Chakraborty starred in Umesh Mehra's successful action film Jaal, followed by two more successes, Dilwaala and Muddat. Apart from box office success, he received acclaim for his performance in Basu Chatterjee's Sheesha, which was one of the first Hindi films centred around sexual harassment in a workplace. The following year, he starred in Dance Dance, Parivaar and Watan Ke Rakhwale alongside moderately profitable films, Hawalaat and Hiraasat. In 1988, Chakraborty reunited with K. Bapayya for Pyar Ka Mandir, co-starring Madhavi, Nirupa Roy, Sachin Pilgaonkar, Raj Kiran and Shoma Anand. The film performed well at the box office and was declared a "superhit" by trade pundits. He then appeared alongside Sridevi and Moushmi Chatterjee in the action drama film Waqt Ki Awaz, which became a hit, followed by moderate successes in Charnon Ki Saugandh and Jeete Hain Shaan Se. 1989 became a successful year for Chakraborty, with five of his films emerging as commercial successes - Daata, Prem Pratigyaa, Mujrim, Aakhri Ghulam and Ilaaka.
In the 1990s, Chakraborty starred in less successful movies, including Pati Patni Aur Tawaif and Humse Na Takrana, while his most notable release of 1990 was Mukul Anand's action crime film Agneepath alongside Amitabh Bachchan, which although a commercial failure, received highly positive response from critics. Chakraborty later won the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor for his work on the film. For the next three years, his successful films included Pyar Ka Devta (1991), Swarg Yahan Narak Yahan (1991), Dil Aashna Hai (1992), Ghar Jamai (1992), Dalaal (1993), Aadmi (1993) and Phool Aur Angaar (1993). Chakraborty won the National Film Award for Best Actor in Buddhadeb Dasgupta's critically acclaimed Bengali film Tahader Katha (1992).
Chakraborty's career as a matinee idol faded in the mid-1990s, as he took a break from mainstream Hindi cinema and began working in low-budget productions, most of which lacked success due in part to their poor quality. Beginning in 1994, he starred in many such films, the majority of which performed poorly at the box office, with a few exceptions including Cheetah (1994), Jallaad (1995) and Ravan Raaj: A True Story (1995); the latter was Chakraborty's final hit as a lead actor.