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Who is Mithun Chakraborty?
A former Rajya Sabha member, Mithun Chakraborty is an Indian actor-turned-politician. In 2021, he joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) days ahead of the West Bengal Assembly polls.
Mithun Chakraborty's early life
Born as Gourango Chakraborty in Kolkata in 1950, he graduated with BSc in Chemistry from Scottish Church College and later attended the Film and Television Institute of India in Pune.
Films and accolades
Mithun Chakraborty has acted in over 350 films, including Bengali, Hindi, Odia, Bhojpuri, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Punjabi. Chakraborty made his debut with Mrinal Sen's Mrigayaa in 1976 for which he won a National Award. Later, he received two more of the same prestigious award in 1992 and 1998.
Chakraborty holds a record for most released films in the year 1989 with 19 movies.
From 1976 to 1990, the actor was part of over 200 movies. In 1982, Chakraborty established himself as a dancing phenomenon with his most popular role in the movie Disco Dancer. Over the next decade, he again made over 100 movies.
In the television industry, he also developed the concept of dance competition with Dance India Dance, a show that airs on Zee TV, which became India's largest dance-based reality show.
Meanwhile, he paid more taxes than anyone else in India from 1995 to 1999, which proved him more of a businessman than a movie star.
Mithun Chakraborty's political journey
The 70-year-old actor joined politics and became an MP after he was nominated by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in the West Bengal Assembly elections in 2014. Though his term was till 2020, he left Rajya Sabha in 2016. According to Anandabazar Patrika news in 2016, he left the MP seat as his name was getting dragged into various chit fund scams, following which he started distancing from Banerjee's Trinamool Congress party.
On March 7, 2021, Chakraborty joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Kailash Vijayvargiya at the Brigade Parade Ground in Kolkata.
The West Bengal Assembly polls will be held in eight phases from March 27 to April 29. Due to the election-related threat, the veteran actor has been accorded ''Y+'' VIP security cover by the central government.