‘Main bahot chhota artist hoon’: Mithun Chakraborty reacts to not getting KIFF invite

Veteran actor Mithun Chakraborty has publicly reacted to his lack of involvement at the Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF). He said he was not invited to the film festival.

He made the comments while speaking to the media on 13 August. It was after attending a meeting with Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari at Nandan in Kolkata.

Despite attending the meeting, Chakraborty revealed that he had not received an official invitation to KIFF itself. He made a pointed comparison with his upcoming trip to Moscow, where he has been invited to a film festival.

Mithun Chakraborty did not hold back in expressing his disappointment. "They've excluded me as well," he said.

“They invited me to Moscow. But, I wasn’t invited here in Bengal. Main bahot chhota artist hoon (I’m a very small artist), you see, so they don’t invite me,” the National Award-winning actor said with evident sarcasm.

“Yet, they invite all these big names from outside, people who have absolutely nothing to do with Bengal. Tell me, why shouldn’t I say it? I’m not afraid of anyone. Why shouldn’t I speak? I have nothing to be afraid of,” he added.

His presence at the Nandan meeting made his remarks particularly notable. The gathering included several prominent figures from the Bengali film industry. Prosenjit Chatterjee, Rudranil Ghosh, Arindam Sil, Srijit Mukherji and Kanchan Mallick were among those present.

Chakraborty has a long association with Bengali cinema and Indian film culture. His public comments about the KIFF snub have drawn significant attention across the industry. The festival will be held from 16 to 23 December this year.

Social media reaction

“This is utterly unfortunate. Seems somewhere there is some mismanagement. Until recently, Shubhendu Adhikari went to the hospital to personally visit him. I believe central leadership doesn't have any role,” reacted a social media user.

“Sir, with all due respect, you’re a good artist. But choosing to sell your credibility to politics is far more disappointing than simply missing an invitation. Art should rise above politics, not become its pawn,” another user wrote about Chakraborty’s political affiliation.

Another user wrote, “Yeah, this party's known for exactly this stuff, Mithun da—it's not your fault.”

However, some users commented that the actor was referring to the previous TMC government, led by Mamata Banerjee. His comments were not about the present BJP administration.

“I guess he's referring to the Bengal film festival, which was held in March this year. And, TMC was there at that time. In the upcoming KIFF (Kolkata International Film Festival), the present government has given him very important tasks, though,” wrote one of them.