Mithun to play Sylvester Stallone's role

Mumbai, Sep 17 (IANS) After his sterling performance as an aging but fearless Bengali newspaper editor in Mani Ratnam's 'Guru', Mithun Chakraborty is set to play the role of an aging, naive gangster.

The role is inspired by Sylvester Stallone's stint in John Landis' 1991 comic-crime drama 'Oscar'. Mithun's film is titled 'Don Muthuswamy' and will be directed by Ashim, son of veteran filmmaker Shakti Samanta.

Shakti Samanta and Mithun have teamed up in the past for a Hindi-Bengali film called 'Aar Paar' and 'Khwab'.

What makes this project interesting is the casting of TV star Rohit Roy as the gangster's conniving accountant.

'It's a comic role. And I'm very excited about trying my hand at comedy for the first time. Also, because of the banner. I freaked out on Shakti-da's Rajesh Khanna classics like 'Aradhana', 'Amar Prem' and 'Kati Patang'.'

In fact, a lot of Rajesh Khanna's mannerisms are discernible in Rohit's performances.

'Yes, that must be because my mother was a big Rajesh Khanna fan. She must have watched all his films repeatedly while she was carrying me. In fact, when I was shooting with Anju Mahendruji she'd often tell me I reminded her of Rajesh Khanna ji (Anju and Rajesh Khanna were together for many years). So now it feels great to be working with a banner that's done so much memorable work with Rajesh Khanna.'