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Neil Nitin Mukesh - The 'X' Factor
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His debut packed a solid punch, though the hype that marked less impressive debuts like Ranbir Kapoor's shackled-by-the-script Saawariya and Himesh Reshammiya's Aap Kaa Surroor - The Moviee was missing.
Neil Nitin Mukesh has been raking in accolades for his debut as Johnny Gaddaar. The film too earned hosannas but wasn't mainstream fodder. Courteous yet chilled-out, the grandson of the legendary Mukesh and son of playback singer Nitin Mukesh, Neil talks about his relationships - with his family, with acting and of course, music.
On his musical lineage and his deviation to acting:
I wanted to be an actor since I can remember. I have inherited my family's musical genes - I play the piano, sing and compose, and it's the best way to de-stress. My grandfather's been an actor too in many films, so maybe I am living his dream.
From the age of 4, I never wore normal clothes but would be a cop, or Batman or Shahenshah, and jump from bed to bed doing action scenes. In school, I would win prizes in acting competitions. So after I finished school dad asked me whether I wanted to make acting my profession. I had already done two films at the age of 5, Yash Chopra's Vijay and Jaisi Karni Waisi Bharni, and the studios were like paradise for me!
On honing his acting skills:
My dad asked me after I completed school whether I wanted to make acting my profession. He said that I must start working towards my goal and so in the college vacations I did Mr. Anupam Kher's workshops where Abhishek Bachchan, Viviek Oberoi, Uday Chopra and Sikander Kher were with me, and after that I enrolled in Kishore Namit Kapoor's classes. I then joined Aditya Chopra and Kunal Kohli as assistant. At 22, I began grooming myself in all aspects of being an actor and by 23, I was finding work, thoroughly agreeing with dad that I must go and fight by myself though he was in a position to launch a film for me.
On Mukesh, his legendary grandfather:
I was born in 1982 and so I never got to meet Mukesh-ji. But I see a lot of spiritual connection. Ever since I was 3 or 4, I would sleep with my grandmother in his room on weekends, bribing her so that she would have to give me something of my grandfather before I would go up one floor to spend the night there! I now have a wardrobe full of Mukesh-ji's hats, buttons and other things!
On his familiarity with Mukesh's music:
Oh I am completely familiar. I am in awe of him! I have heard so much of him from everyone and watched all of Raj Kapoor's films. I must have been eight when I heard my grandfather's recorded interview for the first time.
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