Veteran actor-politician Mithun Chakraborty, who was honoured with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award at the 70th National Film Awards ceremony on Tuesday, spoke about facing a lot of highs and lows in the industry in his almost five-decade-long career during his acceptance speech.

Chakraborty, who won his first National Film Award for director Mrinal Sen’s Mrigayaa (1977), said, “I thought I had become Al Pacino (Academy Award-winning Hollywood actor) and began to treat producers dismissively. But reality hit when a producer kicked me out of his office. That day, I realised I was not Al Pacino, and it marked the end of my delusions.”

After receiving the award, which is the highest accolade in Indian cinema celebrating outstanding contribution, the actor also addressed the prejudice he faced regarding his skin colour during his early days in the film industry.

“Many people told me that dark-skinned actors wouldn’t survive in Bollywood. I prayed to God, ‘Could you change my colour?’ But eventually, I accepted that I couldn’t alter my complexion. So, I focused on my dancing skills instead, determined to become so remarkable that the audience would overlook my skin colour. That’s how I transformed into the sexy, dusky Bengali babu,” he said.