That much-trimmed role in Guru did it. “Yes, definitely,” laughs the Bengali Babu who’s back in business. “It is true that most of us had to sacrifice some footage; our roles were edited.” The actor was seen briefly but was applauded thunderously for playing a cinematic interpretation of newspaper baron Ramnath Goenka, focusing essentially on his equation with the screen equivalent of Dhirubhai Ambani. “But,” accepts Mithun, “ultimately everything was for the good of the film. And Mani Ratnam is nothing short of a genius.”

He is a genius because a slow starter like Guru ultimately transformed itself into a money-spinner. If it had remained a loser (like Mani’s Yuva), perhaps his genius wouldn’t have come under the scanner. But what is undeniable is that Guru airlifted Mithun from Ooty and brought him back to Mumbai.

The actor who recently shot a long spell on the outskirts of Mumbai for a film that brings second son Rimoh into the acting arena was in a rush as Ashim Samanta (son of film maker Shakti Samanta) was starting a new Hindi film with Mithun Chakraborty in the lead. This is Mithun’s eighth film with Shakti Films and this time he reverts to the South Indian he played in Agneepath — the actor has the title role of Don Muthuswamy, complete with holy ash smeared across his forehead. Maybe he’d need a crash course in Tamil to carry it off with authenticity? Mithun springs a surprise as he begins a conversation in the South Indian lingo. “After 15 years of being in Ooty, what did you expect,” he chuckles happily. “Why else would the locals look up to me and call me periya anna (elder brother)?”

In those 15 years, Mithun proved that he was, indeed, born under a special star as he practically wound up his acting career and shifted to the hotel industry, climbing to the top spot within a decade. His co-star of many films, Shakti Kapoor, remembers how Mithun had taken him for a recce on undeveloped, hilly land and told him, “I’m going to build a hotel there.” That was the beginning of a new life as Mithun turned into a business tycoon, Monarch being the first hotel he set up in Ooty. Now he has a hotel and a resort in Karnataka too.

But Monarch money has not taken the Communist away from the actor. He has endeared himself to the locals everywhere by ensuring that he keeps the major chunk of employment for them. “I have to look after them wherever I have any business. They know that as long as Mithun Chakraborty is there, they will get employment. Even in the Mudumalai area where I have my resort I have employed the local tribals. ”

With his somnolent acting career suddenly awakening, Mithun is no longer the resident god of the Nilgiri hills. “I keep aside five days a month for looking after my hotel business, I personally go to Ooty and take care of it. The rest of the month I’m shooting for a variety of films.” Nikhil Advani (the Kal Ho Naa Ho and Salaam-e-Ishq director), who has cast Akshay Kumar and Deepika Padukone in a martial arts film titled Made In China, has a very special role for which he is keen on getting Mithun (he was the original martial arts hero, long before Akshay Kumar was heard of). But Mithun, equally keen on doing it, has a problem juggling with his time and wonders how he can fit that in. That’s how hectic his second innings in Hindi cinema has become.

Simultaneously, his tryst with Bengali films continues. Ashim is pretty certain that Mithun will walk away with the National Award this year for Ekti Nodir Katha — the actor has already won the prestigious award three times in his career. Mithun blushes and reminds you that apart from winning the National Award three times, he is also the recipient of a recognition from the government in the 1990s for being the highest tax payer for five consecutive years!

As if a bi-lingual career in acting and heading a sprawling business empire are not enough, politics beckons too. Mithun is almost there and he’s sure that when he does move in “It will be in Bengal and I will be a Communist.”

For a young man who ran away from Calcutta, branded a Naxalite, Mithun’s success story is as heady as that of Guru himself. He is beyond being just an actor. Mithun accepts this. “Yes, there’s plenty to do. I’m not going to act forever. I certainly don’t want to die with my acting boots on!”

Since Mithun is given to honest story telling, his is an autobiography that I’d love to read.

Bharathi S. Pradhan is managing editor of Movie Mag International