‘Hey, I feel like a proud father today’

Zee’s flagship show, Dance India Dance, now promises a double dhamaka, Mithun Chakraborty is upbeat about the swinging jodis.

Mithun Chakraborty is ecstatic. His kiddy show Dance Bangla Dance Junior with TRPs of 11-plus is, to quote him, a
“mega blockbuster” and the ‘bhoot’ (ghost) is a “craze” in Bengal. Now he’s gearing up for Dance India Dance (DID) Doubles that will start airing from December 31.

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“Pairs are tougher to judge because we have to look at both dancers simultaneously. And in this case it won’t be the regular girl-boy jodi, it could be boy-boy, girl-girl, girl-boy, man-child…. Any duo is welcome,” he says magnanimously, pointing out that DID is like his baby.

Platform for talent

He says that since the first show, he has worked in sync with the channel’s creative team and today, DID is a household name in 167 countries. "I wanted to give young people a platform to showcase their talent, and now when I see Jai Kumar Nair from DID Season 1 choreographing for Renuka Shahane on Sony’s Jhalak Dikhlaa Jaa, I feel like a proud father," he says.

Prod him on the difference between judging kids and youngsters and he says, “When I’m with children, there is no competition. The show is a game and I’m a magician who with my jaadu (magic) can bring back those who have been eliminated. There are only winners on the show. Even with youngsters, my advice is, put your best foot forward and don’t let the results take away your smile because there are good days and bad days; mistakes happen, but it doesn’t mean someone is any less talented.”

Dada, as he is popularly known, is also jubiliant about his Diwali dhamaka, Golmaal 3 that is another “mega blockbuster”. The film had references to several of his past blockbusters, including Disco Dancer.

He even danced again to I am a disco dancer... tune. “Yeah, and it brought back some sweet memories of the time when my feet moved like lightning and I had still not lost my innocence,” he chuckles.

In the New Year, Dada will be back on screen with son Mimoh in Spaghetti 24x7. “You’ll hear a few other announcements soon. I plan to do at least three films a year, two Hindi and one Bengali or vice versa,” he says.

His second son, Rimoh, was an assistant on the Bengali movie, Shukno Lonka (Dry Chilly) and has now directed a film, Light Somewhere, that is doing the rounds of the festival circuit. His third son Nimashi has just given his secondary exams. “He is close to me and usually quiet. When my daughter pops up on the scene, ‘hum donon ki bolti bandh ho jaati hai’ (we are both speechless). When Dishani is around, I don’t speak, I simply listen,” he laughs. “After three sons, when you get a daughter, you have to indulge her.”

His hotel chain Monarch is expanding. “We’ve opened one in Bangalore and one in Siliguri,” he says. “Both my hotel business and show business are doing great.”