Mithun Chakraborty is lovingly known as the Disco Dancer of Bollywood, after his iconic movie of the same name released in 1982. He started his film career with the movie Mrigayaa (1976) by filmmaker Mrinal Sen and bagged his first national award with this debut. Mithun’s popularity catapulted in the 80s with films such as Hum Paanch (1980), Disco Dancer (1982), Ghulami (1985), Dance Dance (1987), Prem Pratigyaa (1989), and Agneepath (1990).
In the era of superstars like Amitabh Bachchan, Jeetendra, Rajesh Khanna, and Rishi Kapoor, Mithun stood out for his different persona. There was a time when detractors called him “the poor man’s Amitabh”. But Mithun made a place for himself in the film industry with his rustic charm, dancing abilities and martial arts.
Much of the credit for popularising the dance form Disco in India goes to Mithun. The dancing superstar took a generation by storm and pulled them to the dance floor. They danced to his tunes and imitated his moves.
The scandalous pelvic thrust that was inspired by Elvis Presley, machine dance, twist, disco, break dance, hip-hop, and American locking-popping – he did it all. As we celebrate Mithun Da’s 74th birthday, let’s look at some of the spicy dance numbers the Indian Jackson has given us. The song, ‘I am a Disco Dancer’ kickstarted the trend of disco music in Bollywood.
It is thus safe to say that this groovy and energetic track has popularised disco dance from the 1980s until now. The blinding ligh.