Mithun Chakraborty is on an even keel. The Bengali superstar today has roles being written specially for him. In a forthright chat with Subhash K Jha Mithuda discusses his most favourite subjects, including son Mimoh...

One of the roles you're doing requires you to threaten Ekta Kapoor?
That's right. I've a seriously funny role in Ekta Kapoor's C Company. I play this small-time don called Dattu Satellite who has a fascination for tv artistes. I even go and warn Ekta Kapoor against torturing her tv artistes.

I'm having so much fun with varied characters. I again play a funny gangster in Don Muthuswamy. Imagine a Bengali playing a South Indian don! I've played a South Indian before in Angeepath.

It was a very emotional journey down memory lane for you recently when you met up with your steadiest and most adored co-star Ranjita Kaur in Pune?
I met Robby in Pune very recently. She lives there now. Together we visited the Pune Film Institute where my whole journey as an actor began. I went to touch and kiss the number on the room where I stayed. It was a very emotional journey.

Filmmakers are today willing to write roles specially for you.
I've just finished Phir Kabhi with Dimple Kapadia and Rati Agnihotri produced by Culture Company and UTV. It's a very different love story about a happily married man whose first love returns after his wife dies.

His grand- daughter plays Cupid. My character keeps talking to his dead wife...I've done a lot of films with Dimple. She's a pal. And she's given a great performance.

Robby (Ranjeeta) and Padmini Kolhapure were my very favourite co-stars and buddies. Padmini drifted away after she got married. But Robby and I are still buddies. You'll be surprised to see we still fight like we used to.

Now you and Ranjita are coming back together?
Ashu Trikha's Zindagi Tere Naam brings me and Ranjita Kaur together after many years.It was an extremely nostalgic experience for both of us..Interestingly there's a flashback where two youngsters whoo look like us will play our parts.

You in fact got your first National award for your very first film Mrigayaa.
Yes, followed by another National award two years later. I don't want to say this again. But I am the man who came to Mumbai with nothing except my dreams, no godfather no support.

You were the only Bengali actor to make it so big.
That's because I knew the problems that affected Bengali actors, like the accented Hindi. Mine isn't that good. But definitely passable. Personality-wise, I wanted to project myself as....

Very macho?
Yes, I guess so. The unusual have always been more welcome in Mumbai. And I broke the myth of the fair-skinned chocolate-box hero. I proved even the ordinary boy nextdoor can make it.

You were always reachable connectable with the audience...a brother, a son, a father-figure.
Subhash, why interview me? You know everything about me. I've reached 350 films. I've been mentioned in the Limca Book Of Records. I'm shy of speaking about myself. But 249 films as a leading man in Hindi has to be sort of a record. Even as I say this I feel awkward.

But Mithuda this is the era of selfpromotion.
I still believe your work speaks for you.

And what work are you doing right now?
I've done a spoofy gangster's part in Don Muthuswamy. I play a South Indian don who has migrated to Mumbai. Then I just finished Ghosla for Gemini Studios.

I play a National award- winning sculptor who wants the Marathi culture to thrive but finds himself a misfit among today's generation. Out of frustration he leads a life of anonymity on the footpath. It's a film that addresses himself to many relevant social and family issues.

Absolutely splendid. I also have Sujoy Ghosh's next big film which he's producing.Very interesting work happening.

Sujoy is a big fan of yours?
I'm so lucky, yaar. To be working with these guys who are my fans.It's so interesting to be doing a variety of roles. I remember in 1995 a weird thing happened in my career.

I got a National award for playing Rama Krishna Paramhans. During the same year I got the best villain's popular award for Jallad. Isn't it amazing?! Getting applauded for playing the Bhagwaan and Shaitaan during the same year.

In-between when you were staying in Ooty do you feel you did too many downmarket potboilers?
Maybe. But I had no choice. The money I had borrowed from the banks had to be paid back. I also had to create a secure bank balance for my family.

Who knows what will happen tomorrow? I didn't want to die with my dancing shoes on. I know ek din to neeche aana hai. So I cashed in on my name when I was popular.

You can call those films downmarket. But it's those films brought my family financial security.

Would you say Mani Rathnam's Guru triggered off a new phase in your career?
I'd agree with that. There's a strange dichotomy in my career. While in Mumbai I'm getting patriarch's roles in Kolkata they still want me to play the hero, the typical meassiah of the masses.

Yes. I'm the action hero in Bengal. All my movies there do well. I insist on doing two Bengali films a year. Then there are 7-8 films in Hindi.

The film industry seems to have found a place for you once again.
I agree. Out of the ten films coming my way I'm playing the protagonists in seven.

Your son Mimoh's debut had been delayed?
I wouldn't call it a delay. A film has to have its momentum and finesse. We saw Mimoh's film Jimmy and thought it needed extra songs. Mimoh's cash-factor (USP) was his dancing. I've trained him for six years.

I can say he has all the potential for stardom. Again like me he's unconventional. He has his mother's looks. Imagine how much he'd have to struggle if he looked like me (laughs loudly).

Oh stop it.
No seriously I was the hope for the hopeless. Main uski asha hoon jiski koi asha nahin. People who come to this city of dreams look at me and say, 'If he can make it so can we.' Why does anyone need a godfather?

People laugh at me for not producing a film for my son. Who produced my first film?

Even if I produce forty films for Mimoh that won't make him a star until the audience accept him. I can lead him to the water. But Mimoh has to drink it. I won't do anything more than that.