Mithun takes up Don Muthuswamy

By: Subhash K. Jha, IndiaFM
Tuesday, September 18, 2007

After the sterling performance as an aging but fearless Bengali newspaper editor in Mani Ratnam's Guru, add another feather to Mithun Chakraborty's cap. He's about to play the role of the aging naive gangster wanting to go straight that Sylvester Stallone did in John Landis' 1991 comic crime drama Oscar.

The film Don Muthuswamy is to be directed by the prolific veteran Shakti Samanta's son Ashim Samanta. Samanta Sr and Mithun-da have teamed up in the past for a Hindi-Bengali film called Aar Paar and also Khwab.

What makes this project super-interesting is the casting of tv star Rohit Roy in the role of the gangster's conniving accountant. "This is as close as I get to an Oscar," jokes Rohit. "It's a comic role. And I'm very excited about trying my hand at comedy for the first time. Also because of the banner. I freaked out on Shakti-da's Rajesh Khanna classics like Aradhana, Amar Prem and Kati Patang."

In fact a lot of Khanna's mannerisms are discernible in Roy's performances. "Yes, that must be because my mother was a big Rajesh Khanna fan. She must have watched all his films repeatedly while she was carrying me. In fact, when I was shooting with Anjoo Mahendruji she'd often tell me I reminded her of Kakajee (Anjoo and Khanna were a couple for many years). So now it feels great to be working with a banner that's done so much memorable work with Rajesh Khanna."