In a heartfelt Instagram post, Hansal Mehta wrote, “As the weight of this loss settles in, I realise there’s still so much more I want to say about my friend Mukul.”
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“I will miss Mukul deeply. His booming laughter at our inside jokes, his unmatched gift for storytelling, that unmistakable voice… He acted in two of my unreleased films and a TV show—somehow in the shadows of it all, we became very close. We bonded over booze, broken hearts, and the foolish hope that things would one day make sense. For years, we were gym buddies, pushing each other through reps and regrets,” he added.
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Describing Mukul Dev as someone whose charm could “light up a stadium”, Hansal Mehta said he had all the makings of a successful film star.
A former model, Dev made his acting debut with the 1996 movie Dastak opposite another newcomer, 1994 Miss Universe crown winner Sushmita Sen.
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“He had what most people only dream of: a dream launch, big directors, prominent co-stars. He had the look, the talent, the pedigree. But his career became a collection of missed opportunities and near breakthroughs. A story of what could’ve been. A string of ‘what ifs’.
“And I think those what ifs chipped away at his spirit. Slowly, quietly, they filled him with a sense of defeat and resignation—an ache that often found its only solace in booze. Behind the laughter and bravado was a man struggling to reconcile with the dreams that eluded him,” he added.
Hansal Mehta said Mukul Dev was a “gifted writer” and added that the actor gave him the story of Omerta back in 2003. The 2017 movie featured Rajkummar Rao as British-born Pakistani terrorist Omar Saeed Sheikh, who was freed in exchange for passengers of a hijacked Indian Airlines plane in 1999 and was later accused of killing journalist Daniel Pearl.
“I remember the joy in his voice when the film was finally made, the pride when he saw it with festival audiences, and that infectious excitement when his name came up in the writing credits.
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“Every time we spoke, he’d chuckle and say, ‘Hansie, kya film banayi yaar. International. Soch bhi nahi sakta tha ki aisi film mein I’d have a writing credit. This is so good for me.’ That credit made him feel seen. Respected. Validated. I just wish we had done more together,” Mehta said.
Recalling their last conversation, the filmmaker said it was filled with their trademark banter and a “fake Feroz Khan accent” that they used between them.
“But behind the laughter, I sensed something heavier—a quiet sadness, an air of disappointment, a kind of loneliness he never really shared. Go well, my beautiful, broken, brilliant friend. Phir Milenge,” he concluded the post.
