Why Mithun Chakraborty not invited to KIFF, BJP asks Bengal govt

The BJP, which forms the Opposition in West Bengal, has questioned why the state government avoided veteran actor Mithun Chakraborty, instead inviting “superstars from other states” at the 28th Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF).

A party leader has also questioned why Sourav Ganguly has not been made state’s ambassador, alleging that the chief minister “belittles” successful people from the state.

“KIFF is incomplete without Mithun Chakraborty. What is the point of calling superstars from other states and avoiding your own? Politics should be kept aside as far as art is concerned,” Sukanta Majumdar, BJP’s state president tweeted.

Chakraborty enjoys an enthralling fan-following in the state, and the dialogues and dance steps from his films are widely popular across generations.

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The actor-turned-politician, incidentally, is also the national executive committee member of the BJP. Lately, he toured a few districts of the state, addressed gatherings, and campaigned for the BJP. A national film award winner, Chakraborty was nominated to Rajya Sabha (by the Trinamool) in 2014, but had resigned in 2016 citing health reasons.

BJP’s co-incharge for West Bengal Amit Malviya while mentioning about Chakraborty not being invited, also expressed reservations about appointing the state's ambassador. “Mamata Banerjee didn’t invite superstar Mithun Chakraborty, son of Bengal, for the Kolkata Film Festival. She had similarly appointed Shahrukh as brand ambassador of Bengal and not Saurav, one of the finest cricketers Bengal has seen,” Malviya tweeted, alleging that the chief minister “belittles successful Bengalis.”

Veteran actor Amitabh Bachchan, who declared the 28th edition of the festival open on Thursday, had talked about the inclusive spirit of cinema. The actor, after highlighting how cinema faced stringent situations in the past, had mentioned how in the present situation, questions are being raised on civil liberties and freedom of expression. Malviya on his Twitter handle, however, claimed that Bachchan’s words reflect Bengal's situation where violence was reported in some places, after the state assembly elections in 2021.

A day earlier, during the inaugural ceremony, actor Shah Rukh Khan had told a packed stadium of people that “whatever the world does, I and you all, and all those people who are ‘positive’, are alive.” While Khan said so in form of a modified dialogue of his upcoming film, ‘Pathaan’, his expression was read as an ‘answer’ to the controversy his film is being dragged into with a section of people objecting to use of a colour for a dress in a song of the film.