'I would get fever on Fridays'

‘Holding on to superstardom is far more difficult than the struggle to get there.'

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Mithun Chakraborty is still a superstar in Bengal, celebrating blockbusters in the theatres and drawing a loyal audience to his talent hunt show, Dance Bangla Dance, now in its 12th season, week after week.

In Mumbai too, he has some of the most talked-about projects and remains one of the busiest actors.

This Christmas, he will be arriving as an Afghan Santa with a bagful of nuts in Jio Studios and SVF Entertainment's Kabuliwala, based on Rabindranath Tagore's famous short story.

The film is releasing along with two biggies, but he is unfazed about the competition.

Five minutes into the conversation, he's complaining that it is late and he's sleepy.

Dada has never liked giving interviews, the three times National Award-winning actor likes his work to speak to him.

He is persuaded to take a few more questions and answers them with his usually refreshing candour.

"I ask my children to rate me today, not as a father, but as an actor. When I got a dus mein sau for Kabuliwala from Rimoh, I was happy, it inspires me to do even better," he says.

Even after 40 years, people are still singing Jimmy Jimmy in Tashkent and Kazakhstan. After Kabuliwala, will they be calling you by that name in Afghanistan?

I don't know that, but yes, Disco Dancer created magic in India, Central Asia and even Europe.

Even I can't explain its phenomenal success, maybe because it was India's first musical dance film.

It made me a dancing superstar and remains immortal in the same way that Rabindranath Tagore's short story is immortal.