Mithun Chakraborty was insecure about his complexion and teeth, says Shabana Azmi: ‘My mummy would hug him tight and say…’

Mithun Chakraborty was insecure about his complexion and teeth, says Shabana Azmi: ‘My mummy would hug him tight and say…’

One of the most respected Indian actors of all time, Shabana Azmi is regarded by many as the benchmark for film acting. A recipient of the National Film Award for Best Actress five times, the most by any Indian actor in the performance categories, Azmi is an alumna of the prestigious Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune. At FTII, she was senior to Mithun Chakraborty, who later became a big Bollywood star, and has shared a close bond with him since then. Recently, Azmi shared an anecdote about Chakraborty and his insecurities, and how her mother, legendary theatre and film actor Shaukat Kaifi, motivated him to look past such things.

"Mithun Chakraborty was my junior (at FTII). I remember he used to come to our house. He was very conscious of the fact that his complexion was not fair and his teeth were like this (she meant he had jutting teeth). My mummy used to hug him tight and say, 'Don't worry about such things; you dance so well...' This kind of encouragement was given to those who were from the Indian People's Theatre Association (IPTA) and us as well," she said during a chat on Arbaaz Khan's celebrity talk show The Invincibles Series.

Chakraborty himself has previously spoken about his insecurities regarding his skin tone. "Since my complexion was such, I also got a complex about it. So, I thought, I can’t change my skin tone, but I can play a villain in movies. I went to the film institute and came back with good training," he said during an earlier interview with film journalist Komal Nahata.

"I had a complex about my complexion, but then I thought I can dance well, I can do fight sequences well. I wanted to do something which would take people’s attention away from my complexion. I did exactly that. I created my own dancing style," he added.

Chakraborty made his debut through ace filmmaker Mrinal Sen's Mrigayaa (1976) and his performance in the movie earned him his first National Film Award for Best Actor. Azmi and Chakraborty later collaborated on films such as Hum Paanch (1980), Sameera (1981), Ashanti (1982), Nasihat (1986), and Jhoothi Shaan (1991).

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