Abbas-Mustan & Abbas Alibhai Burmawalla Movies Together List — 9 Films

The shape of the work

The 1990s belonged to Khiladi; the 2010s to Race 2. Abbas-Mustan directed every film; Abbas Alibhai Burmawalla directed all of them. Strictly Hindi cinema — they never crossed industries together.

Partnership facts

• Abbas-Mustan were still finding their footing when they cast Shah Rukh Khan in Baazigar (1993). He was just a TV actor with a flop film behind him. They bet their entire career on him — and he turned their film into a blockbuster that launched all three of them.
• On set, Abbas handled the actors and the emotional beats while Mustan controlled the camera and the technical flow. They never swapped roles. That split meant Shah Rukh got a director who focused entirely on his performance, while the other made sure every twist landed visually.
• Race (2008) didn't just make money — it created a whole sub-genre of slick, double-cross heist films in Bollywood. Every studio rushed to copy its glossy look and twist-heavy script. Without Race, there's no Players (which they remade from The Italian Job), and probably no Bang Bang or War.
• Abbas and Mustan are real-life twin brothers. They never had a written contract between them for 20 years. They just split the money 50-50, no questions asked. Their mother used to mediate if they argued on set — which happened often, usually over a shot or a line reading.
• Shah Rukh Khan once said about them: 'They are the only directors who can make me do retakes without me getting angry. Because one brother will say 'do it again' and the other will say 'no, it's fine' — and I end up doing it again anyway.'
• Before Khiladi (1992), Abbas-Mustan had only made a flop in Gujarati cinema. They needed a star who could carry a thriller. They saw Akshay Kumar in a music video and offered him the lead. That film made Akshay a star and gave the brothers their first hit — a triple debut that nobody saw coming.