KOLKATA: Veteran Bollywood actor considered to be one of the best dancers of all time, Mithun Chakraborty, turned 68 on Saturday.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee greeted Mithun Chakraborty on the occasion.
"Birthday greetings to Mithun Chakraborty," Ms Banerjee posted on her social networking page.
Veteran Bengali actor tweeted, "Wishing you a fabulous bday Mithunda we all love you. and Pronama" The dancing legend's continued absence from the Bollywood scene has led to speculation about his health for a while now.
His not being a part of any Bollywood project and not even a part of this season of 'Dance India Dance' has got his fans worried and curious.
Born as Gourang Chakraborty on June 16, 1950 better known by his stage name Mithun Chakraborty (informally referred to as Mithun Da), began his career as a junior actor and went on to establish himself as one of the biggest stars in Bollywood.
He made his acting debut with the art house drama Mrigayaa (1976), for which he won his first National Film Award for Best Actor.
He is recognized as one of the best "dancing-heroes" in Bollywood with his "Disco and Desi" fusion-style dancing that is popular among the masses.
Chakraborty is best remembered for his role as Jimmy in the 1982 all-time-blockbuster movie Disco Dancer, which was a superhit in India and also in many other countries, especially the Soviet Union and Russia.
In Russia, Chakraborty and Raj Kapoor are the most popular Indian actors.
Besides Disco Dancer, Chakraborty is also remembered for his performance in films such as Suraksha, Saahas, Wardat, Pyar Jhukta Nahi, Dance Dance and Agneepath.
In 1991, he won the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Krishnan Iyer Nariyal Paniwala in the film Agneepath.
He later won two more National Film Awards for his performances in Tahader Katha (1992) and Swami Vivekananda (1998).
Chakraborty has appeared in more than 350 films, including Bengali, Hindi, Odia, Bhojpuri, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Punjabi pictures.
The Television show Dance India Dance where Chakraborty is the Grandmaster has already been entered in Limca Book of Records and Guinness World Records.