I am always attracted towards difficult characters, says Neil
In his decade-long career, Neil Nitin Mukesh has played a number of negative characters, but the actor says the role he has in the upcoming film, Bypass Road, is his most experimental portrayal yet.
His foray into Bollywood as a producer with his brother's directorial debut will feature him in the lead role as a wheelchair-bound paraplegic. The actor has also penned the screenplay of the film, which also stars Adah Sharma, Shama Sikander, Gul Panag, Rajit Kapur, Manish Chaudhari, Sudhanshu Pandey, Taher Shabbir, Errol Marks and Mukesh Bhatt. Revolving around a young successful fashion prodigy, the film’s plot gets intense as a sudden turn of events makes the protagonist a victim of an accident and also the prime suspect in a murder.
Neil, who made his debut with Johnny Gaddaar (2007), says, “My choice of cinema stems from a challenge. I’m pretty much a culturally rooted man and I like to try my hands at things that I don’t do 365 days in a year. Cinema, for me, is an adventure, where I get to create, evolve and yet have fun all along the way. Every hero is incomplete without a villain. The grey shades in a character and negative roles attract me. Sometimes playing bad pays off, and in my case, it clearly stands as testimony.”
Even though the actor has been appreciated for his portrayal of grey characters in movies like Johnny Gaddar, 7 Khoon Maaf (2011), Prem Ratan Dhan Payo (2015) and Saaho, Neil says that he is open to do romantic stories as well. “I am always attracted towards difficult characters. I would love to do love story. If there is a story that attracts me, I would love to do it, like New York (2009), which I consider a love story. It is not like I don't want to or can't play characters that are clean. But grey sides give you a lot of scope to show your potential as an actor."
Bypass Road produced by Madan Paliwal of Miraj Group and NNM Films will release on November 8, 2019.