Mithun Da Is Back

Yesterday, we went to see Swadesh, since I hadn't seen it yet. The movie has been running empty theaters, and we were hopeful of getting the tickets. To our surprise, we didn't. We were about to leave when Ashish suggested Elaan.

Now Elaan is one movie which I wouldn't have seen for free. But suddenly I remembered it has Mithun da after a long time. Ignoring the groans of protest from behind, we went ahead.

I know most of you might cringe with displeasure on this but let me say this that while we all despise the B-grade stuff Mithun did with director SLV Prasad and others in the nineties, Mithun of the eighties wasn't as bad. Fan or no fan, let us give the devil his due.

Despite having no godfather, he worked his way up in the industry under the shadow of Amitabh, with his sheer hard work and talent. Remember the movie Do Anjane, featuring Amitabh, Rekha and Prem Chopra? At the far corner of the alley which had Amitabh's house, one could see a very young Mithun playing the blink-and-miss debut role of a road side tapori with hardly a dialogue to his credit.

Mid and late eighties, when Amitabh was on the ebb, Mithun almost single handedly ran the show. The Disco Dancer was a super hit. The way he acted with his eyes in the song 'Jimmy Jimmy Jimmy Azza Azza Azza', only an accomplished actor could do that. Pyar Jhukta Nahin was phenomenal as well, where his pairing with Padmini Kolhapuri was a tremendous success. 'Halwa Wala Agaya' from Dance Dance was on every one's mouth.

But the best performance given by Mithun, I reckon, was in JP Dutta's Gulami. This song from this movie still my one of my favourites - 'Jeehale Muskin Main Kun Baranjis Behaal Hijra Bechaara Dil Hai Sunai Deti Hai Jiski Dhadkan Tumhaara Dil Ya Hamaara Dil Hai'. It was a well made movie with very good performances from every character, especially, Mithun. His performances in Tarana, Prem Pratigya, Pyar Ka Mandir, Agneepath, and Daata were also remarkable. He won the national award for Mrigya.

We all know he was a dancing sensation. Earlier he did 'Disco', in Waqt Ki Awaz he introduced 'Break' dance. Govinda had clearly declared that he use to copy Mithun and Javed Jaffery in his dances. His pairing with Sridevi was also a hit one. Taming of the shrew used to be the famous theme at that time, and Mithun excelled in that. Charnon Ki Saugandh, Watan Ke Rakhwale were a few such films.

So you can see he was not always bad. The only problem was that he didn't learn from his mistakes, and neither did he try to grow as an actor. When he did try to adapt with changing times, he made wrong choices like working in SLV Prasad directed stuff.

As far as Elaan is concerned, apart from him, action scenes, and perhaps, Arjun Rampal, there is nothing much to rave about. Mithun as Baba Sikandar is relaxed, and has definite screen presence. He is just made to speak and deliver, with some good dialogues, but it does seem that his Hindi pronunciation has taken some beating.

Final sentence of the movie says 'Baba Khatam, Darr Khatam'. But Baba doesn't seem to be Khatam as of now.