New Delhi

Veteran Indian actor Mithun Chakraborty has been named as this year's recipient of the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke Award. The award is considered the highest honour in the field of cinema in India. Chakraborty is not new to national honour. In a career spanning nearly 5 decades, the veteran star has won three Best Actor National Awards and has also been honoured with the prestigious Padma Bhushan. 

National Award for Debut Film

Hailing from Kolkata, Chakraborty made an impressive debut in critically acclaimed director Mrinal Sen's Mrigayaa in 1976. The film had Chakraborty playing a tribal man, wronged by society and getting killed for a crime he never committed. The film also marked the screen debut of Mamata Shankar, a well-known Bengali film actress and dancer. 

Mithun's portrayal as a tribal fetched him unanimous acclaim and it won him the Best Actor National Award the same year. Mirgayaa also won the Best Fim National Award the same year. 

Mithun's second National Award

In 1993, the actor won his second National Award in the Best Actor category, this time for his performance as a freedom fighter in the Bengali film Tahader Katha. Helmed by renowned filmmaker Buddhadeb Dasgupta, the film had Mithun playing a freedom fighter who is released from jail nearly a decade after independence and struggles to find a footing in life post-release. 

Also read: Mithun Chakraborty: Revisiting Mithun Chakraborty's best films ahead of Dadasaheb Phalke honour

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The film came at a time when Mithun was a big league commercial star who had delivered several blockbusters in Hindi films. Mithun earned praise for playing a character starkly different from his Disco Dancer persona- an image he had garnered in the 1980s thanks to his commercial hits. 

Best Supporting Actor win for playing Ramakrishna Paramhansa

In 1998, GV Iyer's biopic on Swami Vivekananda drew criticism from all quarters. However, the film featured Mithun as Hindu monk Ramakrishna Paramahansa which earned critical praise and fetched him his third National Film Award. Mithun was awarded the Best Supporting Actor award for the film which was otherwise panned by critics. 

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The prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke Award is given to cinema artists who have contributed immensely to Indian cinema. Chakraborty is a member of the Bhartiya Janta Party and has also dabbled in reality television as a celebrity judge/mentor in the popular dance reality show Dance India Dance. 

In five long decades in cinema, he has been part of several iconic films including Disco Dancer, Agneepath, Boxer, Suraksha, and Guru among others.