Mithun Chakraborty, whose birth name was Gouranga Chakraborty, is an actor, producer, and politician. He is a former Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament and has worked in several Hindi and Bengali films.
He studied at Oriental Seminary and then cleared his B.Sc. degree in Chemistry from Scottish Church College in Kolkata. Chakraborty graduated from the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune.
Chakraborty has appeared in over 350 films, including Hindi, Bengali, Bhojpuri, Tamil, Odia, Kannada, Telugu, and Punjabi movies. He made his acting debut with
Mrigayaa (1977). This debut earned him his first National Film Award for Best Actor.
During his early career as an actor, he had minor roles in movies like
Do Anjaane (1976) and
Phool Khile Hain Gulshan Gulshan (1978). However, it was the low-budget espionage film
Surakksha (1979) that propelled Chakraborty to fame. Additionally,
Basu Chatterjee's film
Prem Vivah (1979) was also a significant movie for Chakraborty in the late 1970s.
His collaboration with
Deepak Bahry in 1979 with
Tarana (1979) got him many hit films together in the 1980s, such as
Humse Badhkar Kaun: The Entertainer (1998),
Hum Se Hai Zamana (1983), and
Woh Jo Hasina (1983).
Chakraborty debuted in Bengali cinema with
Nadi Theke Sagare (1978), directed by
Arabinda Mukhopadhyay. He impacted Hindi cinema in the 1980s with over 110 releases. He played Jimmy in the iconic 1982 film
Disco Dancer (1982), which was the first film in India to gross Rs. 100 crores. He played dual roles for the first time in
Taxi Chor (1980) and later played dual roles in 19 films.
Between 1990 and 1999, he appeared in over 100 movies and delivered several outstanding and unforgettable performances. Some of his notable works during this period include
Agneepath (1990), which earned him the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor, as well as hits like
Shandar (1990) and
Trinetra (1991).
He also won two National Film Awards for his role in
Tahader Katha (1992) and
Vivekananda (1998).
Chakraborty appeared on screen in several blockbusters in the mainstream Hindi film industry from 2000-2019. His film
Elaan (2004) received massive appreciation from the audience and his critics. His movie
Zor Lagaa Ke... Haiya! (2009) won multiple International awards, and critics appreciated
Chal Chalein (2009) for its bold theme.
His next film
Phir Kabhi (2008), was critically acclaimed and saw a direct-to-home (DTH) premiere in September 2009. The movie won as many as six awards in as many categories at the Los Angeles Reel Awards of 2009.
The Bhojpuri film,
Bhole Shankar (2008) was Chakraborty's debut in the industry and is believed to be the biggest Bhojpuri film. He has played a role in films like
Veer (2010) with
Salman Khan and
Golmaal 3 (2010) with
Ajay Devgn. In 2012, he did three films with
Akshay Kumar,
OMG: Oh My God! (2012),
Housefull 2 (2012), and
Khiladi 786 (2012).
Chakraborty also made his Kannada debut with
The Villain (2018), starring
Shivarajkumar and
Sudeep. He was also seen in
The Kashmir Files (2022). Chakaraborty's web series,
Bestseller (2022), was his debut in digital cinema through the OTT platform Amazon Prime.
Chakraborty is the recipient of three National Film Awards, two Filmfare Awards, one Screen Award, three BFJA Awards, two Anandalok Awards, one award from Stardust, one Annual Central European Bollywood Award, one Star Jahlsa Award, and one Star Jahlsa Award for his acting performance.
Chakraborty was the brand ambassador of Panasonic electronics in the late 1980s. He is the face of GoDaddy and the Manappuram Gold Loan for West Bengal state.
In 1979, he tied the knot with actress
Helena Luke but their marriage lasted only for four months, and they separated, eventually getting a divorce. He then married another actress
Yogeeta Bali in the same year. Together, they have four children - Mimoh, Ushmey Chakraborty, Namashi Chakraborty, and an adopted daughter named Dishani Chakraborty.