Right from his debut film ‘Johnny Gaddar’, Neil Nitin Mukesh made it clear that he is not an actor who is afraid of taking risks and playing challenging parts. His career has had several ups and downs but one thing that has remained constant is the actor’s love to explore the unexplored. In this exclusive interview, he talks about the much delayed ‘Dassehra’ which hits theatres this week, taking risks as an actor, the difference between the Southern film industry and the Hindi film industry and ‘Saaho’.
The late Jhamu Sughand was producing ‘Jaane Tu…Ya Jaane Na’ and ‘Johnny Gaddar’ at one point of time and he had asked you to choose between the two. You opted for a dark thriller over a college romance as your debut film. After that, you took several risks and made brave decisions in your career.
I have never followed regular norms. I have always walked the less trodden path and I believe this is something I cannot change. I never took those decisions to prove that I am rebellious. Instead, it has always been an instinctive process. Whether that has worked in my favour or not, it is for people to decide. I feel pretty excited about the fact that I have been able to carve a niche for myself and am known as an actor who has taken risks and experimented with a wide variety of roles.
You play a tough cop in ‘Dassehra’. We have seen actors like Salman Khan and Ajay Devgn play these kinds of roles in the recent past. Ranveer Singh is playing a similar part in ‘Simmba’ but mostly young actors have stayed away from taking up such roles. What was your first reaction when you were first offered this character?
I was very excited. The fact that no young actor has done it made it more exciting. Most of the actors are concerned about the fact that their screen age might increase or their image might change when they portray a particular role. I have never been bothered about these things. Each film gives you the opportunity to challenge yourself and play a character which the audience has never seen you playing. When I was offered the film, I thought the character was very interesting. When you get a good opportunity, you must make the best use of it and that is what I try to do every time I step into a new project.
There is a lot of stylised action in the film. Did you have to undergo any training to perform the action sequences?
We have seen this kind of action in films like ‘Dabangg’, ‘Singham’ and in Rohit Shetty’s films. People in our country idolise policemen. They look at them as their protectors or saviours. This is the reason why characters like Chulbul Pandey and Singham are so popular. When you have some stylised action sequences in a film, you have to execute them in a way that the audience finds it to be believable. Javed-Eijaz, the action directors, have done a fabulous job with the action. As an actor, I just wanted to make sure that I had the understanding and maturity to perform those action sequences.
‘Dassehra’ was shot five years back. This is not the first time you have been in this situation. You had done a film with Sudhir Mishra called ‘Tera Kya Hoga Johnny’ which never saw the light of day. As an actor, is it difficult to go through a phase where you are waiting endlessly for your film to release?
It is a difficult phase but one has to go through it. My first film ‘Johnny Gaddar’ was stuck for two years before it finally released. There are so many actors who have gone through this situation. Sometimes, an actor is blamed for the delay of his film as he is the face of the film. People do not realise that there are several other people involved in a film. A film gets delayed because of several factors and most of the times, an actor cannot do anything to evade a situation like this.
You have done a Tamil film ‘Katthi’ in the past and are now working in ‘Sahoo’, which is a trilingual. What are the differences you see in which the Southern film industry and the Hindi film industry functions?
Both are great industries and now they are merging into each other. The massive success of ‘Baahubali’ series has proved that language is no longer a barrier for the audience. Tamil or Telugu films, which are dubbed in Hindi, have a huge fan following across the country. In South, people a little more disciplined than they are in Bollywood. They are very particular about time. Things happen in a more systematic and organised manner.
‘Saaho’ is one of the most anticipated films of 2019. What can you share about it?
‘Saaho’ will be one if the biggest action films you will see in the country. Sujeet, the director, is very young and it is incredible to see him directing a film which is mounted on such a huge scale. It is too early to talk about my role but I have done a lot of action in the film. We shot continuously for thirty days in Abu Dhabi. I will be shooting for twenty-five days more for the film. I injured myself several times while doing action but it was a lot of fun.