Mithun Chakraborty inspired Irrfan to be an actor

Internationally acclaimed actor Irrfan Khan says he decided to join showbiz after he saw veteran actor Mithun Chakraborty's National Award-winning performance in 1976 film "Mrigayaa".

Irrfan visited the set of "Dance India Dance 5" along with his "Jazbaa" co-star Aishwarya Rai Bachchan on Tuesday and talked about his personal connect with Mithun, who is seen as a 'Grandmaster' on the dance reality show.

"Mithun da was my inspiration to become an actor and it was only when I saw his acting in the National Award-winning film 'Mrigayaa', I realised the desire to get into acting and become like him. I would try my best to copy dada's style and attitude," Irrfan said in a statement.

"I would spend hours at the barber's shop to get my curly hair straightened to get dada's look. Unfortunately in those days, they would only blow-dry the hair for temporary straightening which would only last for a couple of hours leaving me with a disastrous half curly and half straightened, dishevelled look.

"From dada's style to his dialogue delivery, I would try to emulate everything, barring one skill which I knew from the beginning was not just difficult, but impossible to copy. It was the original Disco dancer's killer dance moves that I never attempted as I consider myself to have been born with two left feet," the "Piku" actor added.

The episode featuring Aishwarya and Irrfan will be aired on Sunday on Zee TV.

Meanwhile, "Jazbaa", directed by Sanjay Gupta, is slated to release on October 9. The film also stars Shabana Azmi, Jackie Shroff and Atul Kulkarni.