This director used to sell lamp shades at traffic signals, became a force with his Amitabh Bachchan trilogy; died before he could finish his biggest film

Mukul Anand’s early years

Mukul Anand’s father was a Chartered Accountant and a tax consultant, with the cream of Hindi cinema as his clientele. But after he fell severely ill, Mukul had to step up. While he had filmmaking aspirations, he had to keep those aside owing to his family’s financial condition. Instead, he began crafting and selling lamp shades at traffic signals of Bandra Linking Road in Mumbai for Rs 25 per piece.

“When I came out of school, I realised I wanted to get into films. But there was no scope since my family was in a bad state and I couldn’t become a struggler at that time,” he told Rediff, adding, “It was a very bad phase, and I can never forget it. I was happy I could put to use some of the skills I’d developed to feed my family.”

Mukul Anand and Rajnikanth on the set of Hum. (Express archive photo by Vinayak Gokhale)

Mukul Anand finally entered the Hindi film industry, working as an assistant with legendary filmmakers like Chetan Anand and Vijay Anand. He also assisted filmmaker Ravi Tandon, the father of actor Raveena Tandon, whom he’ll cast as a villain for the first time years later in his unfinished film, Dus.

Mukul also ghost-directed several Gujarati and Punjabi films, before finally getting his break with the 1983 Gujarati movie Kakku Ki Kimat. A Hollywood buff, Mukul made his Hindi directorial debut with Kanoon Kya Karega (1984), an unofficial remake of J Lee Thompson’s 1962 cult psychological thriller Cape Fear.

He followed it up with Aitbaar (1985), an unofficial remake of Alfred Hitchcock’s 1954 crime thriller Dial M for Murder, starring Raj Babbar and Dimple Kapadia. He got his original voice, and subsequently critical recognition, with the 1986 historical epic Sultanat, starring Sridevi, Sunny Deol, Dharmendra, and marking the debut of Juhi Chawla.

Mukul Anand’s breakthrough

But Mukul Anand’s career breakthrough came in the form of the three films he did with Amitabh Bachchan as the lead star. The first one was Agneepath (1990), a commercial failure which became a cult film over the years. Amitabh, who was being lambasted for losing his once-unparalleled glory as the Angry Young Man in the 1970s, bounced back with this film, even winning a National Award.

Mukul and Amitabh corrected the commercial fate of Agneepath with their next collaboration, Hum (1991), which was an instant success. Also starring Rajinikanth and Govinda, the film is best known for its song “Jooma Chumma De De”. Mukul and Big B then outdid themselves with the 1992 action epic Khuda Gawah, also starring Sridevi, which boasted of huge mounting and exquisite set pieces shot in Afghanistan.

That film established Mukul Anand as an enviable director best known for his scale and technical finesse. After a setback in Trimurti (1995), starring Anil Kapoor, Jackie Shroff, and Shah Rukh Khan, Mukul decided to turn all his attention towards his most ambitious project then — Dus. Based on the escalating India-Pakistan conflict then, it starred Salman Khan, Sanjay Dutt (in his first major comeback after prison release), Shilpa Shetty, Raveena Tandon (as a terrorist), and Rahul Dev Burman (in his debut role).

Since Mukul didn’t get the requisite permissions to shoot Dus in Jammu & Kashmir, he got a set erected in Utah in the US. He started the shoot by finishing the climax there. He even approached Pakistani cricketer Imran Khan to play the Pakistan Prime Minister, which he agreed to. While he never shot for the film, he was ironically elected as the Pakistan Prime Minister in 2018.

While filming Dus in Utah, Mukul Anand died of a heart attack. After his demise, his producing partner Nitin Manmohan tried to finish Mukul’s swan song with other filmmakers like Ramesh Sippy and David Dhawan, but neither could do justice to the grand climax he’d already shot for the film. Thus, Dus remains in the cans till date.

Anil Kapoor, Shah Rukh Khan, Jackie Shroff, Subhash Ghai with Mukul Anand. (Express Archive Photo by R. Krishna)

However, Mukul Anand’s legacy lives on in not only his filmography, but also the new musical talent he gave a chance to. He convinced Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy to join forces to compose the music for Dus. “Suno Gaur Se Duniya Walo,” a track that Mukul wanted to be played both on the Independence Day and in nightclubs, became an instant rage.

Also Read — Ashish Vidyarthi recalls how a filmmaker discussed dates with him at Mukul Anand’s prayer meet: ‘Everyone was wearing dark sunglasses’

Sukhwinder Singh, who had lent his vocals to the song “Mahiya” in Dus, used that recording to convince music composer AR Rahman to let him sing the iconic dance track “Chaiyya Chaiyya” in Mani Ratnam’s 1998 romantic thriller Dil Se. Mukul’s nephew Siddharth Anand also became a filmmaker, and delivered massive tentpoles like his late uncle in War (2019) and Pathaan (2023).

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