Veteran actor-politician Shatrughan Sinha took to his social media handle and congratulated his ‘Humse Na Takrana’ co-star Mithun Chakraborty for Dadasaheb Phalke Award and praised him for his contribution to the cinema.

In a conversation with IANS, the ‘Kaala Patthar’ actor said, “I felt very good, and someone said that Mithun Da getting the Dada Sahab Phalke Award is neither a coincidence nor an experiment. In fact, in the right sense, it is a gift from God that Mithun Da got the Dada Sahab Phalke Award, this is the biggest award in the cinema industry and what I say about Mithun, I respect him a lot, he is very close. His family, all his family members, he is also a friend, a family friend that’s why I can say that I have known him for many years.”

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“I know him, we have been students of FTII, and he was a junior to us, but I would like to say that despite being a junior, his first film came out, I think it was Mrigya, a film made by Mrinal Sen ji and he did a very good job in it. Looking at that film, it could have been said that the future of this film is very bright, Mithun will do very well and it was also shown that when he came with a good director, he came with a very good director, he came with a fun director, so he did very well but in the rest of the films, he has left his mark to some extent. His fan following, his fans who were his fans, they kept saying Mithun Da, Mithun Da, Mithun Da.”

“In that regard, the award that has been given today, I think the last award that someone got from Bengal, a very great artist, the world’s greatest director, Satyajit Ray, our Manik Da, if I pronounce it in Bengali, I will say, Satyajit Ray, he is the first person or personality in the whole of India who got both awards, Bharat Ratna and Oscar award. No one got the Bharat Ratna and Oscar award till date. In this way, Satyajit Ray, the owner of our personality, was considered to be the favorite artist of Mr. Shoumitra Chatterjee and Mr. Shoumitra Chatterjee got the award of Dadasaheb before him. After that, today, Mithun Chakravorty got it from Bengal and it is a matter of joy.” He said.

In the further conversation, the ‘Shaan’ fame actor took a dig at Mithun Chakraborty’s political campaigning and said, “Although I can say that some people will say this, they are probably saying that, like I said, Mithun Da ko, Dada Saheb award, some people can also say this for some political reasons.

because he did campaigning, he was brought into publicity. He tried to help the BJP, people can also say this. But as it happens in Oscar, the one who does not get the Oscar, people say about him that he should have got it, he should not have got it that means he deserved it more but they believe that the one who got it, he also deserved it. So I will say this whatever is the reason, that reason is in its place.”

I don’t want to say anything about it, I am not talking from the point of view of politics, I am talking from the point of view of literature, I am talking from the point of view of my films, I am talking from the point of view of art and culture, that it is a very influential, very strong, very strong, very famous, very good award.” He concluded.

For the unversed, Mithun Chakraborty and Shatrughan Sinha have worked together in 22 films that include, ‘Humse Na Takrana’, ‘Kahani Kismat Ki’, ‘Sagar Sangam’, ‘Loha’, ‘Hiraasat’, ‘Taqdeer’, ‘Sharara’ and many other films.