Aaj Ke Cobra Bhaisahab Ko Maine Kal Ke "Jallad " Ke Role Ke Liye "Screen Award" Dilaaya Tha

I was fortunate to know Mithun Chakraborty since the time he landed in Bombay after winning the National Award for the best actor for his performance in Mrinal Sen's " Mrigayaa" - Ali Peter John

He had joined the ranks of struggling actors even after he had won the National Award and did bit roles in films like "Phool Khile Hai Gulshan Gulshan" and "Do Anjaane" .

He had no place to stay and could not find enough work to assure himself of a room to stay and a "rice plate" which was the lunch and dinner of thousands of workers and mill workers in the city.

But , his fortunes changed with just one film , "Disco Dancer" and he danced his way to unimaginable success .

Success had brought with it a number of problems of every kind . He was now the friend of some of the most powerful men in Bombay and the Shiv Sena Supremo, Balasaheb Thackeray was one of them and Mithun called Thackeray "daddy".

This father and son relationship lasted for a few years and then they had a fall out and Mithun seemed to sense trouble for himself and his career and also his family .

He took a very dicey decision to shift his base to Ooty where he had already built a five star hotel called " The Monarch".

He lived with his wife Yogeeta , the former actress and the former wife of Kishore Kumar , and their children .

Mithun was powerful , popular and had a good business sense and it was with these qualities that he established an unusual film industry whose headquarters were based in "The Monarch".

He gathered together a number of producers from the south who had no work or very little work and encouraged them to produce Hindi films with him as the hero and they were only too glad to grab this opportunity .

Mithun also attracted directors from the south who could make films on a limited budget , with new actresses and make films within a month or two .

He got good work for some of his actor friends from Bombay to play supporting roles and among them were Prem Chopra , Ranjeet , Tej Sapru and others like them .

He could even attract some new producers from Bombay . And one of them was a young man who used to be a junior production manager in the films made by the veteran filmmaker J Om Prakash whose name was Rajiv Babbar ( he was not related to Raj Babbar in any way)

Rajiv produced two films with Mithun and under his policy of making films and "Jallad" was one of them .

The film was directed by one of Mithun's favourite directors , T .L. V . Prasad and had Mithun in a double role , playing the good son and the evil father .

The other artists in the film were Moushumi Chatterjee, Madhoo , Tej Sapru and Johny Lever in a role that was much better than the roles he played in any other film .

"Jallad" was not a hit , but it had made good money at the box office .

We were in the midst of screening films for our Jury for the third Screen Awards . I had seen "Jallad" because Rajiv Babbar had a special screening for me .

The Jury headed by Manoj Kumar wanted to include a special category for the best actor in a negative role .

Since I had seen "Jallad" and had seen Mithun put in an amazing performance as a father who could go to any extent to damage ,destroy and even kill his good son ,I asked Manoj Kumar who was the head of the Jury to have a screening of "Jallad" . Mr Bharat agreed . But it took Rajiv Babbar a long time to get a print of the film.

"Jallad" was screened for the complete Jury which sat through the film only because of its interest to see the performance of Mithun as the " Jallad" .

No member of the Jury liked the film , but all of them were unanimous in applauding Mithun's performance .

The Jury made its decision when it made its decisions about all the other awards. And the Jury had voted entirely in favour of Mithun and he was the first winner of the Screen Award for an actor in the best negative role .

Most of the members of the Jury were of the opinion that Mithun was a very fine actor who was wasting his tallent playing insignificant roles in absolutely bad films .

This award brought about a change in Mithun and he was more careful about selecting his roles .

Did I play a part in Mithun winning this award ? I didn't . I only rememberd Mithun's performance and recommended it to the Jury .

And it was Mithun's talent more than anything else that got him the award and it is his talent alone that has assured him of a place in the history of Indian films .

TUM KUCH BHI KARLO , TUM DAL BADALTE RAHO ,TUM TUMHARE NAAM BADALTE RAHO , TUM COBRA BAN JAO YA SWAMI PARAMHANSA BAN JAO , TUM HAMESHA EK ACCHE KALAKAR RAHOGE . YE MERI RAAI HAI TUMHAARE BAARE MEIN . AAGE TUMHAARI MARZI