Familiar strains of the hit song ‘ Tu Cheez Badi Hai Mast Mast ’ from the film Mohra waft from the rehearsal hall next door, where actor Mustafa Burmawala is busy practising his moves. The reprised version of the ’90s song will feature in director duo Abbas-Mustan’s upcoming film Machine , which marks the acting debut of Abbas’s son Mustafa. “We have always loved this song and it fits perfectly in our film’s sequence,” says Mustan, adding that song, one of the six in the film, was yet to be filmed. Zeroing in on a perfect club tune delayed the process. “One day, Mohra was on television and when we heard the hit number, we found our song,” says Abbas.
As for the song’s copyright, the Burmawalas found out that it rested with their longtime collaborator Venus Worldwide. One of the most coveted songs from Venus’s library, it had earlier attracted a price of ₹1 crore, but the Jains (of Venus Worldwide) had refused to part with the rights. For Machine , they only asked for a token payment of ₹101 from the Burmawalas. “We have worked with Venus in seven films, right from Khiladi . And it is because of this association and relationship that they gave us permission to use it , ” says Mustan.
Action replay
The brothers joined the Hindi film industry in 1990 with Agneekaal , starring Jeetendra and Raj Babbar. A year later, Venus Records and Tapes Pvt. Ltd (now known as Venue Worldwide Entertainment Pvt Ltd) were foraying into filmmaking and approached the brothers for Khiladi . “We were looking for a fresh face and Akshay Kumar was recommended to us,” says Mustan adding that Deepak Tijori was more in demand as his films Aashiqui and Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander were box-office successes. “Akshay was new to the industry and his films Saugandh and Dancer were yet to be released.” The two went on to fare poorly at the box-office, but Khiladi was a big hit, earning Kumar the moniker Khiladi Kumar. “The premiere of the film was at the now-defunct Satyam Theatre in Worli, where Akshay had come with his father,” remembers Abbas.
One of Abbas-Mustan’s significant contributions to Bollywood still remains Baazigar , Shah Rukh Khan’s first major hit as a solo lead. The brothers had first approached Anil Kapoor, who was shooting for Roop Ki Raani Choron Ka Raja at that time. “He felt the role was too negative and that it was early for him to consider it. Salman [Khan] was excited about the script, but he was occupied with a Rajashri film. He too felt it wouldn’t go with his on-screen image,” remembers Mustan.
Baazigar defied expectations to become the biggest hit of 1993 and earned SRK his first award as a lead. “Even before the film released, SRK had predicted an award for himself. And when he got one, he came straight to our house,” says Abbas, adding that it was around 4 a.m. when Khan’s entourage of seven cars was outside his chawl in Bhendi Bazaar. “It was the month of Ramzan and the residents in the area were already up. So, by the time SRK reached the gallery of our house, there were 2,000 people cheering and waving at him. We had a tough time managing the crowd,” he recalls.
Class act
Taking a break from his rehearsals, Mustafa reveals that he initially never wanted to be an actor and has learnt filmmaking in New York. To prepare for his role, the 29-year-old went to NSD graduate N.K. Sharma, a renowned playwright in Delhi, and took acting lessons for six months. “When he came back, there was a remarkable change. His body language had improved and his confidence in front of the camera was visible,” says Mustan.
Mustafa, who started out by assisting his father and uncle in films like Players (2012), Race 2 (2013) and Kis Kisko Pyaar Karoon (2015), had to prove his mettle to the director duo. He put in 10 hours a day for several months to work on his action and dance skills. “There is tremendous pressure on me because of the family name,” he says.
Initially, Abbas and Mustan had decided to pitch the film to various actors once the script was in place. “One night, Mustafa’s younger brother came to us and asked us to consider him for the lead role,” says Abbas revealing that it took them “a week to weigh the pros and cons of casting Mustafa as he had no prior experience in acting”.
Mustafa had never conveyed his aspirations of becoming an actor to his family as he “didn’t want to pressurise them”. Without letting him know, the director duo decided to test his mettle in a script reading session. “Since I was present as an assistant director right from the scripting process, I knew most of the dialogues well,” says Mustafa. Abbas and Mustan asked him to make a 20-minute showreel with scenes from the film. “I was given an action sequence, an emotional scene and since the songs weren’t ready then, I performed to SRK’s song ‘ Janam Janam ’ from Dilwale .”
Unlike most star kids, Mustafa’s journey didn’t begin by tagging along with his father and uncle to their shoots to pick up the grammar of filmmaking. But one meeting Mustafa remembers running away from was with Arbaaz Khan. “I had seen the rushes of Daraar (1996) and was so terrified that I couldn’t go to school for two-three days. At the preview, my father wanted to introduce us to Arbaaz, but the moment we saw him, we were petrified and ran away from the room,” laughs Mustafa, who was five years old then.
In sync
The brothers, who project themselves as a unit that “think alike” and is “always in sync”, say it’s something that also extends to the six assistant directors who work with them. “All our ADs are aware of the shooting schedules and scene breakdowns. Filmmaking is teamwork, and you will never see any of our films claiming to be ‘a film by Abbas-Mustan’. We are just a part of the process and nothing more,” says Abbas.
This humility also extends to the way the duo has dressed for the last two decades. “It’s because we don’t like darkness of any kind, in our life or films. We like brightness and simplicity and our white clothes reflect that,” Mustan says adding, “This is also why we never shoot at night, ever.”
