February 26, 2017
After the 2013 Kannada film "Veera", Mukul Dev, who began his
acting journey in Bollywood with the 1996 movie "Dastak", wants to do another
project with his brother and actor Rahul Dev.
Mukul shared that he and
Rahul talk about "our respective experiences while performing a particular
character and challenges faced by us".
Apart from discussing their work
with each other, he is also keen on working with Rahul, known for his work in
films like "Champion" and "Dishoom".
"I would love to do a project with
my brother as we share a bond with each other," Mukul told IANS in an email
interview.
For now, he is enjoying his stint in television.
"I
started working in the small screen since 2006. I hosted a non-fiction show.
After that, I was tied up with shooting for various films in Hindi, Punjabi,
Telugu, Kannada and Bengali.
"I was looking for a project that would be
contemporary and different from what is being shown on TV. When I got this ('21
Sarfarosh: Saragarhi 1897') offer from Discovery, I was sure that my
apprehensions would be taken care of. And no doubt, the battle of Saragarhi is a
landmark in our history, so I immediately said yes," he said.
For the
Discovery JEET show, he had to do a lot of research.
"My character of Gul
Baadshah is basically of a tribal Pashtun lord who collects 15 to 20 others
tribal lords like him and forms an army of 10,000 Afghans against the 21 Sikh
Regiment posted at Lockhart, now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.
"Since the
demand of the character was to have long hair, beard, I prepared myself for the
same. Getting the right dialect was also important as the character speaks in
Pashto so I had taken help from different people," said Mukul.
And one of
them was his father.
"For this character, I took the help of my father as
he knows how to speak in Pashto and Persian. He helped me to get the correct
pronunciation and diction," said the actor.
After the finite series, is
he willing to take up a daily soap or host a reality show?
"Yes,
definitely. I see everyday as a new chance to live life of a different character
and that's the best part of our profession," he said.
He is not a trained
actor, but always had an interest in being in front of the camera.
"I
went to a pilot training institute, Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Uran Akademi which
is in Rae Bareli, Uttar Pradesh. There, I was famous for mimicry and comedy. I
used to mimic Amitabh (Bachchan) and Vinod Khanna.
"After completing my
pilot course, I faced problems in getting a good job. Then I tried my luck in
modelling," said the actor, who has also featured in a film titled "Bachchan".