The Johnny Gadaar actor is back with Aa Dekhen Zara, another thriller, but a romantic one. Neil Nitin Mukesh reveals how the long 'visual' break has made him work nonstop
The Johnny Gadaar actor is back with Aa Dekhen Zara, another thriller, but a romantic one. Neil Nitin Mukesh reveals how the long 'visual' break has made him work nonstop
Last we checked, Neil Nitin Mukesh was a fresh-faced, cold-blooded killer called Johnny who played traitor and murdered five men. "It's unlikely that's going to happen again," he says drolly about his striking debut in Sriram Raghavan's Johnny Gaddaar in 2007. "This time, it's the romantic thriller route."
We're seated, with a photographer, within Neil's snug make-up van at Mehboob Studios, its floor lined with dumbbells. He gets called to do patch-up work every few minutes by young production guys with nervous, scrunched up brows, knocking politely on the door. It's for Aa Dekhen Zara, directed by Jehangir Surti, a thriller with a futuristic edge in which Neil costars with pussycat doll Bipasha Basu.u00a0 "It's futuristic, but not gimmicky. I play a photographer Ray Acharya, but it's really the camera that's the hero in this film," Neil explains.
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Restless energy
Wearing a lemon-yellow t-shirt and an easy attitude, the actor is little like the impassive Johnny in Johnny Gaddaar. That one said little; Neil can talk up a storm, his one foot shaking like a puppy wagging its tail. "That doesn't mean I'm nervous. I'm just restless," he grins, "I have hundreds of things running through my head, like answering your questions, how I'm looking through his camera (pointing at the photographer), when I'll have to run for the shot and whether I'll be able to wrap all of this before a gaming event where I'm invited."
So when Neil explains that it has been more a visual than working break from him in the last 15 months since his first film, you'd have to agree. The young star will have Aa Dekhen Zara release in March, the Kabir Khan-directed New York in May, the Sudhir Mishra film Tera Kya Hoga Johnny in June and 'reality specialist' Madhur Bhandarkar's take on Jail later this year. Yes, it's a Neil Nitin Mukesh deluge.
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The dream
His grandfather, the velvet-voiced Mukesh, had a charmed life and the adoration of millions. Yet it is Neil who is living out Mukesh's dream. The legendary playback singer wanted to be an actor when he first came to the film industry, but ended up singing for the stars, especially showman Raj Kapoor. Mukesh's son Nitin too followed in his father's footsteps, doing stage shows, singing Mukesh's hit songs in that timbre.
The grandson waited in the wings for his unconventional debut Johnny Gaddaar, a homage to pulp fiction and James Hadley Chase paperbacks. It's translated to just one release in nearly three years. "Yes, people have been asking, 'Where is your second film?' But they also expect me to be in a shell of self-pity at home, wondering, 'Where the hell am I?' That's not happened. I'm extremely busy. I'd rather be the turtle steadily moving instead of the rabbit, napping and then trying to catch up. Patience pays off," he says. After this backlog, Neil still has Abbas-Mastan's and Ken Ghosh's films coming up.
Since his first role required him to be an pokerfaced killer who gave little away, Neil's next films will have him stretch his acting vocabulary and test if he has more than just screen presence. "I don't look at acting as just distorting my face. My diction teacher told me, 'Neil, let me hear you, not your voice.' It taught me that when I say something, it should sound like I truly mean it."
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Prison break
Neil, who just turned 27, has a mature head on his shoulders, evident in his film choices. Strikingly good-looking, there have been passing comparisons to Hrithik Roshan. "It's a huge compliment. I worked with Hrithik when I was assistant director on Mujhse Dosti Karoge. He's like an older brother and guiding force. His discipline teaches you a lot."
Neil makes the effort for his roles too. To play the lead in Bhandarkar's Jail, the Peddar Road resident visited one at Thane for the first time in his privileged life. Relating that a real jail looks so different from the preconceived image courtesy the movies, Neil says he watched inmates labouring at carpentry workshops, ate their food, drank milk from the prison dairy. Sticklers for hygiene and snobbish to boot, few of his colleagues would have sat down to lunch with undertrials. "It's food," he shrugs, "Human beings are eating it."
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New York, New York
Even on the sets of New York, Neil decided to spend spare time learning photography. "I invested in a Nikon 300 and zoom lens and have since been into nature photography. My married sister lives in a palace in Kanpur that touches the banks of the Ganges and I was fascinated by the birds."
During the three months he spent in the US, Neil also bonded over sushi lunches, long walks and watching football with costars John Abraham and Katrina Kaif. John is his big gym buddy and Neil's also hit it off with his girlfriend Bipasha. "I love them both but John's a darling and Bipasha a tyrant!" he jokes.
And when it comes to his own love life, Neil goes on the tack he's adopted the past few months. Yes, there is someone special, but no, he hasn't confessed his feelings yet.
"It's boring to go around. I'm very family-oriented and I'd rather go in for a life partner than one-off dates. You lose your identity then. I'm not shy or scared of telling the woman my feelings. But I want to take it nice and slow."
Did you know?
Neil was named after man on the moon Neil Armstrong. When Lata Mangeshkar came to see him as a baby, she commented, 'Yeh koi angrez ka bachcha lagta hai.' Neil's parents then decided to name him after the astronaut.
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From Mukesh to Kishoreda
Neil has sung the title song of Aa Dekhen Zara, a version of the Kishore Kumar hit. "I'm a huge Kishore Kumar fan, but I can't ever match his energy. I had a blast singing it though and added mouth percussions."
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Big passions
Playing the keyboards
Photography
Filming "Before the camera, but eventually, I'd like to direct."u00a0
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Directors in a word
Sriram Raghavan: Different
Jehangir Surti: Interesting
Sudhir Mishra: Intense
Kabir Khan: Bliss
Madhur Bhandarkar: Ecstatic. "Not my feelings of working with Madhur, but because that's his personality and energy."
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