Shabana Azmi Says Mithun Chakraborty Was 'Conscious' Of His Complexion, Teeth: 'Was Not Fair And...'

Shabana Azmi and Mithun Chakraborty’s friendship dates back to their film school days. Mithun was Shabana’s junior at FTII and after graduating, both became massive superstars in Bollywood. In a recent chat, Shabana Azmi recalled how Mithun Chakraborty used to be insecure about his complexion and teeth. She said that her mother would reassure him by telling him that is a great dancer.

“Mithun Chakraborty was my junior (at FTII). I remember he used to come to our house. He was very conscious of the fact that his complexion was not fair and his teeth were like this (she meant he had jutting teeth). My mummy used to hug him tight and say, ‘Don’t worry about such things; you dance so well…’ This kind of encouragement was given to those who were from the Indian People’s Theatre Association (IPTA) and us as well,” she said during a chat on Arbaaz Khan’s The Invincibles Series.

Mithun has previously mentioned that he had a complex about his skin tone and how it affected his film choices. “Since my complexion was such, I also got a complex about it. So, I thought, I can’t change my skin tone, but I can play a villain in movies. I went to the film institute and came back with good training,” he had earlier told Komal Nahata.

“I had a complex about my complexion, but then I thought I can dance well, I can do fight sequences well. I wanted to do something which would take people’s attention away from my complexion. I did exactly that. I created my own dancing style,” he added.

Shabana Azmi and Mithun Chakraborty became huge superstars during the course of their careers. They were also seen together in several projects such as Hum Paanch (1980), Sameera (1981), Ashanti (1982), Nasihat (1986), and Jhoothi Shaan (1991).