Kolkata celebrates Mithun's comeback, Mithunda says he's happy

Kolkata: Jubilant scenes broke out on the streets of Kolkata with delirious crowds streaming on to the streets to distribute sweets as news of Mithun Chakravborty's return to the cast of the next B. Subhash film spread like wildfire.


Having held up trains and set up road blocks for days in protest against Chakraborty's exclusion from the cast earlier this month, film buffs sprinkled 'gulal' on each other and shouted 'Mithun Chakraborty zindabad'.


A large number of people gathered before Mithun's home on the northern outskirts of the city, displaying the filmstar's posters and beating drums, as Christmas seemed to have descended a day in advance in the City of Joy.


Reacting to the news of his inclusion, Mithun Chakraborty said he was happy to have made a comeback and hoped that the film would do well at the box office.


"I am very happy to be back in the film just like any other actor in a similar situation," Mithun told newspersons at his residence in Ooty soon after being cast in the film.


He said he was yet to hear officially about his inclusion and received the "good news" from television. Asked whether he was going to be the lead hero, Mithun said, "I haven't heard anything of the sort. All I can say at this moment is that I am very happy".


Recalling that the last B. Subhash film had been declared a hit both in Uttarpada and Titagarh, he said "I hope we will all act well". Mithun refused to draw any comparison between now and his earlier return to Bollywood in 1996.


Jagmohan Dalmeinkala, the former FPAI president, today welcomed Mithun's inclusion while stating that undue pressure should not be put on Mithun. "In the first place, he should not have been dropped from cast despite acting reasonably well in Jallad Khooni. It is good that better sense has prevailed and casting directors realised their mistake and have corrected it," Dalmeinkala said.


"Mithun has a lot of acting left in him. I am confident he will be given his due chance and hope that undue pressure will not be put on him," said Dalmeinkala who is the president of the Film Association of Bengal (FAB).


Meanwhile his adversary, Bharat Pawar, the present Film Producers Association of India president, also threw his weight behind Mithun, saying the former action hero deserved a place in the film and that reports questioning his conduct were not true.


"It looks like that he is definitely the proper person who should be included [in the film]," Pawar told reporters minutes after the film's cast was named.


"What was appearing in the papers that he was not cooperating and his relationship with his colleagues was not good, I myself went to his senior colleagues, there is not a single complaint against him. And whatever reports appeared in the media is unfair on any actor and especially for the person who has got hits for Bollywood," he said.


Pawar had met Mithun last week in Delhi where the actor reportedly discussed his exclusion from the film.


Minutes after television channels beamed the news large crowds gathered at various pockets in the city to kickstart impromptu celebrations.


The local television channels, which had been beaming deabtes on Mithun's chances of returning to the film world for the last few days, started showing scenes of mirth and conducting 'vox pops'. From Shyambazar in the north to Naktala in the south, from Belaghata in the east to Garden Reach in the west, the joy on the faces of Mithun's fans was there for all to see.


Violent protests had broken out in Kolkata and other parts of West Bengal after Bollywood dance-action hero Mithun Chakraborty was dropped from the cast of the next B. Subhash film. The Film Producer's Association chief Bharat Pawar had later assured Mithunda that he would look into his case.


(All the quotes and events in the story are true. Both PTI and Edit+Find+Replace contributed to this report.)
Crossposted on IBN blogs.