Meet India's most unsuccessful actor: 180 flops, no solo hit in 30 years; then gave ₹350 crore blockbuster at age 72
Here's the latest box office buzz making the rounds:
The bottom line of the Indian movie industry, or anywhere in the world for that matter, is that an star’s ability to shepherd a hit determines their career graph. If one sees a spate of box-office flops over a prolonged period of time, it is safe to assume that their prospects dwindle. But one Bollywood legend has defied this logic. In a career spanning five decades, this man has won a National Award, starred in the highest-grossing Indian movie of its time, and then gone on to star in a staggering 180 flops, the highest-ever for a lead star.
Adding to this, India's most unsuccessful lead star has starred in 180 flops. India’s most unsuccessful star Mithun Chakraborty began his acting career in 1976 with Mrinal Sen’s Mrigayaa, which collected him a National Movie Award, making him one of the few actors to receive it for their debut movie. Success followed with Shaukeen and Ashanti in the 80s, before Disco Dancer turned him into a household name in 1982. But after the mid-80s, the star opted for quantity over quality, often working in 8-12 films a year. The result was that many of them bombed at the ticket-window.
Meanwhile, In the 90s, as younger stars took over, Mithun resorted to working in small-budget action films that could be churned out in less than a month. During this decade, he starred in close to a hundred films, a majority of which bombed at the ticket-window. His last solo hit as a hero was the 1995 rollout Raavan Raj, over 30 years ago.
Notably, In the 50 years that he has worked in films, Mithun has appeared in over 270 films (an exact number is impossible to determine). Of these, a staggering 180 have flopped at the ticket-window. This includes at least 45 films labelled as box-office disasters. Only two other actors - Dharmendra and Jeetendra - have given even half as many flops as Mithun. For most top stars, the number is under 50.
As per the latest buzz, Mithun’s career shot up in the 80s, with Disco Dancer being his biggest hit. In 1985, when the movie rolled out in Russia, it became the first Indian movie to gross ₹ 100 crore rupees worldwide, taking over the mantle of India’s highest-grossing movie from Sholay. It held the record till Hum Aapke Hain Koun surpassed it in 1994. This was Mithun’s zenith.
In further updates, In the 2000s, the star moved to supporting roles, appearing in many big films. His biggest success in this phase of his career came in 2022, when the star was 72. He appeared in Vivek Agnihotri’s The Kashmir Files, a sleeper hit that grossed ₹ 350 crore rupees worldwide. It remains the highest-grossing movie of the star’s career.
On top of that, Abhimanyu Mathur is Deputy Editor, Entertainment at Hindustan Times. With almost 15 years of experience in writing about everything from films and TV shows to cricket matches and elections, he inhales and exhales pop culture and news. Currently, he watches movies and TV shows and talks to celebrities for a living, while occasionally writing about them as well. A journalism graduate of Delhi College of Arts and Commerce, Delhi University, Abhimanyu began his career with Hindustan Times at the age of 20, swapping classrooms for newsrooms at an early age. He began his journey in the early days of digital journalism, later switching to the madness of print journalism. Work has led him to far off places like Japan and Jordan, as well as to the interiors of Haryana and the Indo-Pak border. He dabbled in city reporting in places like Meerut, Gurgaon, and Delhi, covered the Olympics and Cricket World Cups, before finding his calling in entertainment and lifestyle during the pandemic. A Rotten Tomatoes Certified Movie Critic, he is equally at home covering stories on ground as he is interviewing celebrities and studios, and sometimes prefers to shepherd teams in delivering traffic through the day. Even as his role has evolved from reporter to supervisor over the years, his first love remains writing (and of late, talking on camera). With a good understanding of cinema and its trends, and a keen eye for detail, he continues to spark conversations around showbiz for readers around the world. Read More
Source: Hindustan Times