'I am only 27++'

Mithun Chakraborty does not believe in keeping a tab on numbers. Well, the actor's just turned 62 and cooked for his children to celebrate the big day. In fact, in his trademark jovial manner, he quips that he not only finds celebrating birthdays rather embarrassing, he also believes a man's state of the mind has nothing to do with his age. Mithun da says, "In fact, I am just 27++."

Family matters
The veteran actor may not want to talk about his age, but he is more forthcoming to speak about his children, who are his most treasured assets in life. In fact, on his birthday, he even cooked mutton and daal for his kids. On his son Mahaakshay, Mithun says, "He has improved. I don't give him tips on acting. I want him to swim through the rough waters and then achieve success."

There is a lot of anguish in his voice as Mithun talks about the incessant criticism that his son faced after Jimmy proved to be a box office dud. He rues, "People slammed him with vengeance, which disturbed me the most. Tell me the name of any actor who hasn't given flop films. It was hurtful."

Mum's the word
A lot of tongues wagged recently when model-turned-actress Nargis Fakhri was dropped from a film starring Mithun, apparently because she didn't look the part of the veteran actor's sister. Mithun, however, chooses to downplay the incident, saying, "I don't know if Nargis was approached first for the role of my sister. I just do my work honestly and head back home to my kids."u00a0