‘Amitabh Bachchan stopped his car when he saw Mithun Chakraborty travelling in a tempo, offered him a lift’: Son Namashi on Big B, his father’s friendship

Mithun Chakraborty is one of those rare actors whose debut film Mrigayaa won him a National Film Award but despite the appreciation, Mithun had not achieved the star status that he eventually got with Disco Dancer. But it was during that time that Amitabh Bachchan saw Mithun travelling in a tempo with the production crew and pulled up his car to offer him a lift.

Mithun’s son Namashi, who is soon making his debut in the movies with Bad Boy, shared with ETimes that after the success of Mrigayaa, his father signed Rajshri Productions’ Tarana where he starred with Ranjeeta Kaur. Ranjeeta was a star at the time and was given a car and vanity van by the production but the same wasn’t provided to Mithun, as he was still treated like a newcomer. Namashi shared that the film was being shot in Shimla and it just so happened that Amitabh Bachchan was also shooting there for Mr Natwarlal.

“He saw my father sitting in this tempo with the production people and he pulled up his car. He asked, ‘You are Mithun, from Mrigayaa? You are that actor? He said, ‘Yes, Bachchan saab’,” Namashi shared. Bachchan asked if his car had broken down since he was travelling with the crew but to his shock, Mithun said that he does not have a car.

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“Something triggered in Mr Bachchan and he said, ‘Come in my car, I’ll drop you to your location.’ For a National Award-winning actor, who was treated like a newcomer, the biggest superstar makes you sit in his car and drops you to the location. So the friendship is from those days. The association has been for about 45 years now,” he said.

Amitabh Bachchan and Mithun Chakraborty famously worked together in Mukul Anand’s Agneepath.