Sanjay Dutt and Salman Khan-starrer ‘Dus’; 20 years of an unfinished dream

Sanjay Dutt and Salman Khan’s team up for an action film

Considered to be the best action heroes in the period of 90’s in Bollywood, the team up of Sanjay Dutt and Salman Khan was nothing less than a best gift for their ardent fans. Though this was not the first time that both of them were doing a film together, the 1991 released ‘Saajan’ being the earlier one. But, ‘Dus’ was definitely the first film that would have seen Sanjay and Salman together performing some daredevil and kickass action scenes which were not there in ‘Saajan’ (it was a romantic musical drama). Eventually, both of them went on to work in a couple of films together, but none of them was an out-an-out action film like ‘Dus’.

Raveena Tandon’s first villainous role

Better known for doing some commercial potboilers in early 90’s, ‘Dus’ would have been the first film for actress Raveena Tandon to explore a completely different side of hers on screen. She was playing the part of a mastermind Afghan terrorist named Nasheman who had captured the character of Captain Raja Sethi (played by Sanjay Dutt). It was Raveena’s first negative role, but sadly we never got to see that side of hers. Later, Raveena went on to win critical acclaim with her performances in films like ‘Daman’, ‘Satta’ and ‘Aks’ breaking her regular stereotype image that of a leading heroine in the commercial films.

Actor Rahul Dev’s debut as terrorist Mast Gul

Actor Rahul Dev is a popular name today when it comes to films and television. The actor has been known for many villainous roles from ‘Champion’ to ‘Dishoom’. Though he has been working for over a decade now in the film industry, not many know that ‘Dus’ was his acting debut where he played the part of an Afghan terrorist named Mast Gul. This picture seen above was his look from the film which was shared by Rahul himself on his Twitter handle. He had captioned it writing, “Throwback!Frm 1st film DUS by the late MuKul Anand wth Sanjay Dutt & @SalmanKhan Photographer Bryan send this image!” [sic] Looking at this still and knowing Rahul’s caliber as a performer, it wouldn’t be wrong in saying that it would have been one of the most promising debuts for the actor.

Trio Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy’s debut as music composers

Director Mukul S. Anand wanted Ehsaan Noorani to compose the music for the film, but he insisted him that Shankar Mahadevan and Loy Mendonsa would also work with him (as a trio) which was later agreed on by the late filmmaker. The trio had worked with him earlier on a Pepsi commercial which eventually was the first meet of Shankar Mahadevan with Ehsaan and Loy, and which later turned into a successful partnership for them. Be it the iconic song ‘Hindustani’ or the other tracks like ‘Mahiya’ and the title track ‘Dus’, each received a thumbs up from the viewer’s much later after they were released on the internet post the film was shelved. Later, with films like ‘Mission Kashmir’, ‘Dil Chahta Hai’, ‘Kal Ho Naa Ho’, etc. the musical trio came into prominence and are still ruling with their soulful and chartbuster tracks in Bollywood and Regional film industry as well.

The most iconic song ‘Hindustani’

As we had mentioned earlier, every occasion of country is incomplete without this iconic song. A music video was later released on the internet which featured Sanjay Dutt, Salman Khan, Shilpa Shetty Kundra performing this song along with the singers Shankar Mahadevan, Udit Narayan, Mahalakshmi Iyer and Dominique Cerejo. It had also carried some portions shot from the movie which indeed looked impressive. Truly, an unforgettable gem ever from this unfinished dream called ‘Dus’. You can watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phXc6nu1vG0