'Dus'  embodied  Mukul's new vision of cinema-making .Plurality   and openness were the guiding leitmotifs as 'Dus'was  being engendered.He'd leave no stone upturned  in his launching of new vistas ,in his exploration of new territory.Mukul was experimenting with cinema that would result from contributors from several fields . Music was not limited  to a prefixed channelising criteria .   Nor  were     w riting and conceptualisation ( technically and materially speaking) either.. He wanted to use different musicians for the 11 tracks that he'd planned.Names which were previously linked to a certain field,would after''DUS' become synonymous  with charting  novelty , and initiating  ' trend setting 'global' vistas.  For the  Shankar Mahadevan,Ehsaan Noorani  and Loy Mendoca  team 'Dus' was their launching pad from  the world of ads  to the world of the silver screen. A similar overall,beyond'matter' boundaries  touch was also mirrored in the roping in of a champion creative ad.  writing team for the Dus' screenplay. Prasoon Pandey _who'd been awarded for his Ericsson film and Piyush Pandey ,the director of Ogilvy and Mather Advertising  joined the bandwagon.. to quote Prasoon Panday in an article' the brainstorming that led to 'DUS'  was an experience in intself. Mukul wanted to use India's multilingual texture and release the film in several languages,including Hindi,Tamil,Telugu and English. .As for the starcast, newcomers and other wellknown  _stars were to bring alive the characters Mukul had in mind. Yes,'Dus'was Mukul's baby and with his characteristic  audacity, selflessness and  generosity   ,he would  harness  the diversity of talents   he had brought together. into one whole.
The musicians as well as the  ad. world writers concur on one  point. Mukul understood the different worlds they came from.    The Panday brothers  have declared in their interviiews that Mukul worked around their'availability' and understood their schedules. He'd sense gold  and then shape it with the writers or musicians. The latter have  also time and again said that they wouldnt come up with prefabricated tunes!Mukul would brief them every time and then they'd hum a tune which would suit the context and catch his fancy. Since Mukul's 'DUS' wanted to emphasise the notion of 'best'   Mukul's initial plan was getting several composers to work on the same song and then choosing the best.
NB FEBRUARY 14th  2005  NOW READ THE UTAH SHOOT WHICH CONTAINS THE SKELETON OF   'DUS' AS MUKUL HAD PLOTTED IT IN HIS OWN WORDS  WAY BACK IN THE NINETIES AND WHICH IS PUBLISHED HERE FOR THE FIRST TIME.