| MUKUL'SBRAND OF ENTERTAINEMENT2( BY BEENA AND ANITA ANAND) MUkul and his team made in fact two trips to UTAH The first one was in 2002 and their aim was sound location hunting. Nakul Kamte recounts the differences he noted then in shooting methods in the States and in India(Nakul Kamte Interview Jan Feb.2002) Indian crews were more numerous and noisy,The Americans had less people and were more disciplined. They had American chopper pilots who had just finished 'Under Siege'.There was an outstanding must on American sets :they always have a doctor on the sets.The account that follows is written by Mukul's wife Anita Anand |
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| I am Anita, Mukul Anand’s wife. It would be obvious that I was (and still am) a huge fan of my husband’s work. Technically, a very sound director and way beyond his times, Mukul was a perfectionist and his films reflected his passion for film making. I could go on about Mukul and his talent, but that isn’t my aim. His last film ‘DUS’ which unfortunately, never got completed was his baby…… right from the story, script to production and direction. This film would have been his first attempt in all these fields, but proved to be his last instead!
I remember waking up every morning to see Mukul sitting hunched over his laptop, spectacles on his nose, writing the script of ‘Dus’. He could not type, so with one finger he would be patiently getting his thoughts together on the laptop. I would hear snippets of the ever evolving script. ‘Dus’ was the story of 2 men, who were Force 10 (hence the title), and part of the Indian Intelligence team, sent to restore peace between India and Pakistan. They were on a mission to destroy Mast Gul, the terrorist from Afghanistan. The climax of the film was the saving of the Pakistan prime minister, who was on a visit to Delhi on a peace mission, from the asassination attempt of Mast Gul. The location recce for ‘Dus’ to Utah, where they were planning to shoot the climax of the film and all the action scenes, was done in May/June 1997. It was also a holiday for the family. My 2 kids, Alishka and Mikhail (aged 11 & 5 at that time) and me accompanied him. I remember going along with Vikas Sivaraman (the cameraman) and Mukul into the Utah mountains and photographing the locations. We drove through winding roads and mountains, rivers and bridges, stopping all the way. Vikas and Mukul would be surveying the landscape from all angles and shortlisting the locations they thought would be great to shoot at. I could see the mounting excitement of the two men as they found the locations they wanted. 15 days later, Mukul had a complete idea of the locations for his magnum opus. Today, when I look back, I’m happy we went along, as it wasn’t just a holiday but also an opportunity to see my husband at work. |
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