They’re now synonymous with the thriller genre in Hindi cinema, but director duo Abbas Mustan had to fight their way up the pecking order. They emerged from humble beginnings, having dropped out of school to help earn money for their struggling household. Their father, who was a carpenter, was duped by one of their uncles. But it was another uncle who came to their help, both financially and professionally. He took Abbas under his wing, while Mustan worked odd jobs around Mumbai. In order to save money, they’d walk across the sprawling city, sometimes for hours on end. They would earn under Rs 300 per month, but it was all that they could manage. Years later, their biggest hit would gross nearly Rs 200 crore worldwide.
In their career, Abbas Mustan have worked with the likes of Shah Rukh Khan, Akshaye Khanna, Saif Ali Khan, Bipasha Basu, Deepika Padukone, and scores of others. They were still living in a chawl when Shah Rukh won his first acting award for his performance in Baazigar. He was surprised to learn that Mustan slept in the balcony because the house didn’t have any room. It was only after Baazigar became a hit that they moved out of the chawl. “Our grandfather was born in Burma and ran a furniture business and migrated to India. Our father ran a furniture hiring business in Colaba and we lived close to Mohammed Ali Road in a one big room chawl with a big balcony as a joint family,” they told The Times of India in a 2012 interview.
Although they lived in a joint family where disputes were solved in a cordial manner, things took a turn for the worse when their father’s brother ‘cheated him in the business’. Overnight, they began living a hand to mouth existence. “We could afford to eat only one meal a day. Our parents would not eat themselves, but would feed us. Abbas would not eat, but he would feed Mustan. Our suffering was our bond. We learnt three things from our parents. One, don’t hurt anyone’s heart and take their curse, two, keep your intentions clean and work with dedication. And three, if there are people working under you, give them their due for their hard work. They taught us that if we were together, we could deal with all hardships,” they told TOI.
Music director Anu Malik, Director Abbas, Mustan, Shilpa Shetty, Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol, Saroj Khan and Champak Jain. Express archive photo
Their humble lifestyle didn’t change even after they directed the hit film Baazigar, starring Shah Rukh Khan. In fact, Shah Rukh came knocking at their door at 4 am when he won his first Filmfare award. He wanted their blessings even before he went home to his wife Gauri. He was surprised to find that they lived in a chawl, and that Mustan slept in the balcony. “He looked down from the balcony and found 2,000 people waving at him,” they recalled. The brothers moved to an apartment in Lokhandwala in the 1990s.
In an interview with Komal Nahta, they shared more details about their family, and recalled the struggles they went through before they joined the film industry, first as assistants and then as ghost directors. “Both our uncles on our mother’s side were in the film industry. The older uncle was a film editor, and he worked his entire life at the Films Division. He worked on a very early Dilip Kumar movie. Another of our uncles, SD Kurani, worked with Kamran Khan on his low-budget films. He was also an editor,” they said.
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Film director Abbas, Mustan with Sunil Shetty, Amitabh Bachchan and Sanjiv Gupta. Express archive photo
They continued, “We couldn’t complete our education. There were major issues in our family. Our father was a carpenter, he would work at home. But after a dispute with our some of our other uncles, he went bankrupt. We would see our mother being so stressed. Even though we were very young, we were aware enough to know that the financial situation at home wasn’t right. Our uncles in the films would help us out financially.” Abbas dropped out of school in the 9th standard, and started taking up apprentice work at film studios. “Our uncle told me that I would earn at least Rs 2 per day if I did odd-jobs. Later, he asked if I’d want to work with him as an editor, and offered the Rs 2 that I would’ve made at shoots otherwise. He knew that I would learn more from him, and he knew that I wanted to become a director,” Abbas said.
Mustan quit school as well, and began working at a clothing store. He said, “I started working for Rs 125 per month, and simultaneously, our brother Hussain also quit academics and started working at a wood furnishing store. He made Rs 75 per month. All three of us started working at around the same time. We were contributing over Rs 250 per month to the household.”
Actors Jayshree T, Tabu, Ajay Devgn, film director Abbas, Mustan and Shyam Bajaj on the set of film Chhalia. Express archive photo
In a recent interview with Lucky Bisht, the brothers recalled getting their start in Gujarati cinema, and struggling to get meetings with Hindi film stars. “Although we got our start in Gujarati cinema, we were born and brought up in Mumbai. We struggled for three years in the industry. We met every star, and they would avoid us. They made us wait us all day, then they would give us another appointment and we would show up for that as well. This kept happening; only Raj Babbar actually met us,” they said.
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The brothers said in the Komal Nahta interview that they still own the house they were born in, and often visit it to remind themselves of where they came from. “Our mother always taught us to be generous. Even though we had nothing ourselves, we would share our meals with a rag picker who came to our house, because we once saw him eating from the trash,” they said. In their career, they’ve made hit films such as Baazigar, Khiladi, Soldier, Tarzan: The Wonder Car, Race, and Race 2.
