“I Prefer Doing Thrillers” – Neil Nitin Mukesh on ‘David’, ‘3G’, ‘Shortcut Romeo’

Guess audience is looking forward to a Neil Nitin Mukesh film festival now, isn’t it?
(Laughs) To be honest, the question that has come to me way too often in the past is that I do one film in a year and then main gaayab ho jaate hoon. Now that there are three of my films coming together, logon ko lag raha hai ki thoda zyaada ho gaya hai. The thing is that I do those films which I really like at the basic concept level. This means that sometimes I may like only one film in an year, do it and then move on. On the other hand at times I may choose multiple films as well. However I don’t work in parallel on many films. I keep them spaced out during shooting at the least.

One thing which is common though is that you are playing someone with grey shades in each of your three movies.
If you have seen my films then right from Johnny Gaddaar till now, I have picked layered characters. Ab yeh aapke upar hai that whether you notice grey, black or black & white shades (smiles). I guess a little bit of something or the other is definitely there in my characterisation. I like doing such characters which are truly different, more so since saturation of grey is very different in my films.

However your films do come with a tag of ‘Made to Thrill’. With ‘David’, ‘3G’ and ‘Shortcut Romeo’ promising ample thrilling moments, is this pretty much a niche that you have built for yourself?
Exactly! See, every actor has something special that he only does best. If you ask me, I prefer doing thrillers, reason being that they truly excite me. Moreover, the best part is that the characters I play are so different from what I am in real life as a person. To play an intense character on screen is something that I love. This is the reason why I get attracted to films of this genre that allow me so much of material and mass to eat.

So what was it about ‘David’ that attracted you to the film? Seems like it is a powerful outing for you.
Yes, it is. I am playing this London based gangster who is the son of Iqbal Ghani, an underworld don. The interesting part is that David is a Catholic boy who is born and brought up in a Muslim family. Why I jumped into this movie was because during its narrative, at one point you expect me to be this cold blooded murderer who is very intense and may appear heartless. On the other hand when you look at the flip side, you see the heart of a child in him. When he is in love with this girl (Monica Dogra), it is all so beautiful since along with so much angst, there is also a lot of emotion and drama. I was instantly drawn.

Joginder Tuteja tweets @tutejajoginder