Mithun Chakraborty is 'forever grateful' to Zeenat Aman

The latest recipient of the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, Mithun Chakraborty says he is ‘forever grateful’ to veteran actor Zeenat Aman for working with him during his tough phase.

In a new interview with an Indian media outlet, seasoned actor Mithun Chakraborty, who has recently received the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke Award, India’s highest accolade in the field of cinema, revealed Zeenat Aman agreed to star alongside him at the time when most of the other female actors refused to, due to a lull in his career.

The National Film Award winner for his debut movie ‘Mrigayaa’, Chakraborty shared that he faced ‘many obstacles’ after that. “I was going ahead in life at a great speed, so obstacles were inevitable,” said the ‘Disco Dancer’ star and mentioned that many female actors excused themselves from working with him. “[But] I didn’t want to bow down to that lull, I had decided that if I had to lose, then at least I’ll battle it out, that I’ll not just give up.”

When asked about who was responsible for breaking the jinx, Chakraborty disclosed, “Zeenat Aman helped me a lot.”

“She was working on a film with Brij (Sadanah, the director of Taqdeer) and he had decided ‘Mithun hi mera hero hai‘ (Mithun is my hero). So he went to her and said, ‘See, there is this boy, I think he is very good,’ so Zeenat ji said, ‘He is a very handsome-looking boy. He dances well, I will work (with him).’ She broke the cycle by working with me. After her, all the big heroines restarted signing films with me,” he explained and expressed, “I am forever grateful to Zeenat ji.”

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It is to be noted here that the two then co-starred in films like ‘Taqdeer’, ‘Hum Se Hai Zamana’ and ‘Yaadon Ki Kasam’ in the ’80s.