MUMBAI: Bollywood actor Mithun Chakraborty is all set to play the major part in Rabindranath Tagore's timeless masterpiece Kabuliwala. The film is based on the relationship between a moneylender and fruit vendor from Afghanistan and a young girl.
On the sidelines of a programme on Saturday, Mithun mentioned that he would not be constrained by the past performances of actors who played similar roles and would instead interpret the character, who has won the hearts of thousands of Bengali households for a century, in his own way.
"Yeah, I'll play Rehamat, the character immortalised in Tagore's work, and I've started taking notes and getting mentally ready. This Kabuliwala won't resemble any of the previous depictions of him," the illustrious actor claimed.
Even after 100 days since its release, Mithun's most recent Bengali film, "Projapoti," is still running in the theatres. The 72-year-old Mithun was asked if he would make any comparisons to the 1956 box office success of the Tapan Sinha-directed film, in which the late legendary actor Chhabi Biswas played the same character.
A middle-aged Afghan man's passion and paternal love for a little Bengali girl, whose family he periodically visited to sell dry fruits grown on his farm, is the central theme of Kabuliwala.
Another movie based on the same plot, Kabuliwala, was made in 1961 under the direction of Hemen Gupta and starred Balraj Sahani in the title role. The project will be filmed in Kolkata, Afghanistan, this year, according to Srikant Mohta of production company SVE, who is in charge of it. "We would like to keep the movie's historical setting. It won't be totally staged in the present. Nonetheless, the director is in charge of everything. We believe Mithun da might be the best candidate for this position."
Suman Ghosh, who previously collaborated with Mithun on the 2011 film Nobel Chor, will helm the Bengali movie.
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