It is common knowledge that the talented and dashing actor Rahul Dev made his debut with the Sunny Deol-starrer Champion (2000), which recently completed 25 years, on December 22. However, many are not aware that he had worked on Mukul Anand’s Dus, starring Salman Khan, Sanjay Dutt, Shilpa Shetty and Raveena Tandon. The film never saw the light of day after Mukul Anand passed away on September 7, 1997, due to a heart attack. He was just 46 years old at that time and hence, his demise shook the industry. However, the makers of Dus did release the song ‘Suno Gaur Se Duniya Waalon’, which became a rage and continues to be a chartbuster. In an exclusive interview with Bollywood Hungama, Rahul Dev spoke in detail for the first time about working on Dus.
When asked if he played the villain in Dus, Rahul Dev replied, “Yes, that’s true. My character’s name was Mast Gul. He was a real-life person who burned the Charar-e-Sharief mosque in Kashmir. The story was that of brave Indian officers who are trying to get the mercenary Mast Gul back to India. Since Kashmir was out of bounds to shoot, Mukul ji set up a model. It was tried for the first time in cinema history where a model of a real-life location was set up, that too in Utah, USA. My first action master was with Don Shanks, top Hollywood action director. I still remember he could hit the bullseye with a knife from a very large distance. I had to throw a knife for that scene and he was the one who taught me. Raveena Tandon and I also got horse training.”
He added, “It was an expensive schedule, spanning 40 days. In those days, you would land in New York from India after a 28-hour journey. Then, reaching Moab, Utah, would take another 6-7 hours from New York. This was in 1996.”
Talking further about the challenges of shooting Dus, Rahul Dev revealed, “At that time, there were no GoPros or flying cameras. Everything from the top was shot hanging out of a chopper. Mukul ji had a visual understanding, as he used to also direct ad films. He also liked to make his movies larger-than-life, as seen in his previous films like Agneepath (1990), Hum (1991), Khuda Gawah (1992), etc.”
How much was Rahul Dev paid for his first film? He said, “I was paid very handsomely. I got Rs. 11 lakhs for my first film. That was a huge amount. I was paid so much as I was a supermodel for 6 years. I was associated with Raymond for a long time. In fact, when I got a call from his company, MAD (Mukul Anand Directs), I thought it was for an ad film. By then, I had given up modeling to paint a fresh image of myself. As a result, money was hard to come by. Whatever money I had, I spent on buying a flat in Mumbai. So, I can say that I never struggled without a roof.”
He continued, “What’s praiseworthy is that Mukul ji didn’t bind me in a contract. He assured me that he’ll make Dus in a start-to-finish schedule as he had everyone’s dates together.”
Rahul Dev then said, “Sadly, Mukul Anand ji passed away after the first schedule. Then a lot of names came up for completing the film, including Mr David Dhawan. I wonder how his name came up, as he and Mukul ji were completely diverse directors! Imagine David Dhawan trying to complete a Mukul Anand film!”
When this writer remarked that it was probably due to David Dhawan’s editing background, Rahul Dev retorted, “But what does editing have to do with direction? This was the logic given to me at that time also. I didn’t say much then, because you couldn’t really voice your opinion. So, I just kept quiet, lied low and waited for the next exciting opportunity. I had to ultimately wait for 3 years.”
Rahul Dev signed off by talking highly of Mukul Anand, “He did a big favour by getting me into the mainstream. It is often alleged that models ki awaaz kharaab hai. My features were such that it was believed ki ‘Yeh Italian lagta hai, Hindi nahin bol sakta hai’. People automatically make assumptions. And of course, I am not a trained actor. Yet, in these 25 years, I have had the fortune of doing 159 projects. Greater fortune than that was to participate with 31 National Award winners at the helm, be it SS Rajamouli ji, Santosh Sivan, Mukul Anand ji, Sriram Raghavan ji, etc. That’s like one-fifth of my work. Thus, I am one of the lucky ones to get the opportunity to get paid and learning on the job.”
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