Hansal Mehta: 'Mukul stood by me during my darkest days’

Actor Mukul Dev 54 who went on to build an over 25year long career across mediums and languages passed away on Friday night following a brief illness For many in the Hindi film and television industry itrsquos the loss of a kind friend who loved telling stories and bad jokes To the world filmmaker Hansal Mehta first collaborated with Dev in 2018 on his Rajkummar Raostarrer Omerta Dev is credited as the cowriter But their collaborations go back a long way and their friendship even longer ldquoWe became friends because we used to go to the same gym And then we would hang out together all the time We were literally inseparable He stood by me during my darkest daysrdquo shares MehtaHansal Mehta and Deepshikha NagpalDev made his film as well as television debut in 1996 The director shares he worked with the actor in both mediums ldquoWe did television together briefly We also did a couple of films together but none of them got releasedrdquo he says before adding that through their intimate friendship he discovered the storyteller in Dev ldquoHe used to keep narrating story ideas He was a very good narrator of stories In fact he brought me the story of Omertagrave From the time he pitched the film took almost 14 years to get made Once I completed the film I called him and said lsquoMukul film ban gayi hairsquordquo the filmmaker sharesDev offered an unwavering support as a friend says actor Deepshikha Nagpal who starred with him in Teri Bhabhi Hai Pagle 2018 and the Vikram Bhattdirected 2019 series Maya Reminiscing about their two decade friendship she says ldquoHe was an amazing human being He was a pilot came from a good background and was very sophisticated in the way he spoke He was a thorough gentleman humble and an extremely kind human being He was also a very good astrologer and would often read my chart There was so much more to him than being an actor mdash he had a personality He had an amazing face so I would always take his pictures from different angles When I told him that women were crushing on him he would say lsquoWhere are these womenrsquordquoIt wasnrsquot just the audience who gushed over Devrsquos looks His peers did it too And he loved it Mehta tells us ldquoHe was the most handsome friend Irsquove ever had mdash beautiful eyes great bone structure and what a facerdquo Mehta smilesAnd he had a good amount of vanity He could not handle a little bit of paunch or anything showing He would run on the treadmill He was so conscious He was a beast on the treadmill He would run for an hour at a stretch And he needed a mirror in front of him to be able to run because he would run and only look at himselfrdquo Mehta laughsBut he wasnrsquot the same in the last few years the filmmaker shares ldquoThe last few years he just let go I spoke to him few months ago and told him Why are you not looking after yourself He started laughing He was always laughing He also used to crack some of the worst jokes possiblerdquoBut what remained constant was Dev brimming with story ideas In fact he would often tell Mehta that he wished to narrate them to him The narration couldnt happen a regret the filmmaker harboursHe once sent me a voice note saying I want to tell you stories I have many stories You listen to them once Youll like them He had been telling me stories for a long time We kept promising to meet I would say Come and see me come to my office Lets hang out But that day never happened I feel when people are alive we dont meet enough Then all you live with later is the regret that you did not meet enough says a sombre MehtaBut Dev lives on in the stories and memories shared by his friends and colleagues Like Mehta tells us about the time when Dev saw his writerrsquos credit in Omerta ldquoHe was going through a low phase at the time Seeing the credits he thanked me profusely saying rsquoTune mere credit de diya usme yaar Thank you for doing that He just felt so validated and seen because of that one credit He took so much pride in that the director shares Or that moment when the two friends partied all night to celebrate their collaborationI remember we had a screening in Delhi And then Mukul and I partied till the early hours of the morning I will always remember the gleam in his eyes and that mysterious smile And every time you wanted to click a picture the pout would happenrdquo Mehta smilesHis known worksgtgt Dastak 1996gtgt Iski Topi Uske Sarr 1998gtgt Ek Khiladi Ek Haseena 2005gtgt Yamla Pagla Dewana 2011gtgt Son Of Sardar 2012gtgt Rhellip Rajkumar 2013gtgt Shareek 2015gtgt Saak 2019atOptionskeyd0ddb8ef8f1a62a8cdd22fac27fc5ea7formatiframeheight90width728params