Neil career has seen a big drop

The failure of Lafangey Parindey has spelt disaster for Neil. After a spate of flops, with Aa Dekhein Zara, Jail and now Lafangey Parindey, Neil finds himself in a spot of bother. Apparently the producers of The Italian Job have asked Neil to renegotiate his asking price.

Our source said, “Neil was signed for over one crore initially. However, his career has seen a big drop with back-to-back flops. Lafangey Parindey was his big ticket but it failed to even take a decent opening. Given the current scenario, the producers of the Bollywood remake of The Italian Job have told directors Abbas-Mustan to ask Neil to reduce his price by 50 per cent.
The situation is not very encouraging and the director duo are left with no choice. Incidentally, Neil is also not ready to slash his price."

Neil is the biggest fan of his grandfather

Young actor Neil Nitin Mukesh has a quirk and we have found it. Neil is the biggest fan of his grandfather, the legendary singer Mukesh and has certainly taken the natural gift of cinema from his grandfather and father and tapped into it to face the camera.

As an ode to his grandfather, Neil always wears or uses something from his grandfather’s wardrobe in every movie. He feels when he does that he is paying respect to him. It is also his lucky charm and feels his grandpa’s blessings with him.

In his debut Johhny Gaddar, he sported a navy blue jacket in one of the scenes. In New York, he carried a sling bag which belonged to his grandpa and in Jail he sported one of his grandpa’s watches which is one of Neil’s favorites as well. In his forthcoming release Neil will be seen sporting a thumb ring which belonged to Mukesh.

A close friend of Neil says, “Although Neil never met his grandfather, he would always look up to everything his grandpa had done or achieved. He would love watching his grandfather’s songs that Raj Kapoor would lend a face to ever so often.”

The friend furthers, “When Neil grew older, he got his grandfather’s wardrobe shifted into his room. Neil often goes through it and picks something from it at every momentous occasion. Neil feels like he is keeping his grandfather alive.”

Neil Nitin Mukesh has become the official Brand Ambassador for the Siyarams

The buzz going around in bolly circles is about the endorsement deal that Neil Nitin Mukesh has bagged recently.Reportedly,Neil has become the official Brand Ambassador for the Siyarams suiting and shirtings clothing line.

He has signed the deal for 1.75 crores.The shooting for the ad promotions were also completed in Mumbai recently.

Neil has been shot with various poses,ranging from the casual to the official to the bohemian look for the ad.Actually,the brand was supposed to be endorsed by Vivek Oberoi.

But,the amount quoted by the actor was not what the company had in mind for the actor.

"JAIL" has many characters put in for real life references

Parag Dixit (Neil) is hard working white collared job employee who is just on the threshold of a great career ahead. He gets a well deserved promotion at his job and is all set to marry his girl friend Mansi (Mugdha). But fate has other plans. He gets wrongly implicated in crime which he is not part of and is subjected to a police custody first and then Thane jail. Thus begins a nightmare for the innocent Parag. How he faces the problems in a world completely unknown and as dark as he could not even imagine in his wildest dreams forms the rest of the film.

Jail is as gritty as it gets. It is not meant for the faint hearted. Madhur Bhandarkar yet again takes us right into the underbelly of a world we never knew existed like it is. With his well researched and authentic treatment, Madhur makes us feel the pain and anguish of what a person must be undergoing when he is put in jail.

The dialogues are razor sharp befitting a Madhur Bhandarkar film and the large number of character actors carefully chosen justifying their parts with their natural act. The film has many characters put in for real life references like for example the infamous drunk and drive incident on a Mumbai road.

Although, it takes a little extra time for the story to build up, after the interval point it packs in a solid punch. Camerawork by Kalpesh Bhandarkar and background music deserve special mention. Sayali Bhagat’s item song will please the front benchers.

Madhur has the knack of deriving award winning performances from his principal cast and in here Neil delivers an award worthy performance as Parag Dixit. The manner in which he has successfully conveyed his anger, frustration and sheer helplessness against the situation that he has been subjected to deserves a bow. Mugdha Godse in a non-glam part is good. Manoj Bajpai in his intense act is simply superb. His meaningful gaze conveys a lot.

Playing jail inmates - Rahul Singh as Gani bhai and Arya Babbar as the underworld recruiter are excellent in their parts. Atul Kulkarni impresses in the two scenes he gets during the climax.

Watch Jail for an experience of a trip to a world which you will wish you never to visit even in your worst nightmares.

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Neil Nitin Mukesh is a prisoner in his next movie

Neil Nitin Mukesh went to Delhi’s Tihar Jail and came back with a bagful of goodies made by the prisoners, including a blanket, a shawl, sweets and other edibles. The shopping arcade in the jail premises sells everything under the sun, says the actor who will be seen as a prisoner in his next movie.

"There’s a shopping arcade at Tihar where everything under the sun made by the prisoners is branded TJ (Tihar Jail) and sold. I was told the revenues from these handmade Tihar goods comes to Rs.7.5 crore every year. I bought a kambal (blanket), shawl, kurta, sweets and other edibles," Neil told IANS.

"Do you know they have 10-day meditation courses in there, a full Vipassana where the yoga guru comes and stays inside the prison?"

Neil spent Monday afternoon in what is described as Asia’s largest prison as part of the campaign to make his film "Jail" connected to a larger reality about the life of prisoners.

"What I saw in Tihar was not just prisoners put in there for punishment, but human beings who have been put in a 400-acre city with the purpose of reforming them and making them suitable for mainstream existence when they are released," he said.

Neil was accompanied by his co-star Manoj Bajpai, director Madhur Bhandarkar and music composer Shamir Tandon.

Neil, Manoj and Bhandarkar were immediately recognised by the inmates. "Every barrack has a television with 20 channels. So they had seen our movies."

"What I saw in their eyes was an amazing pain. We had taken along a small orchestra. Shamir Tandon and all of us sang Lataji’s ’Data sun le maula sun le’, followed by ’Kitne ajeeb rishte hain yahan par’ and ’Sikandar’ from Bhandarkar’s ’Page 3’. When we sang ’Sikandar’ the prisoners burst into a dance. This was the only time I saw them really let go of themselves," said Neil.

The song "Data sun le" will now be played at Tihar every morning as part of the prisoners’ daily prayer meetings. Bhandarkar’s film will also be screened on a DVD for the inmates.

The two-hour-thirty-minute visit was peppered with moments that have changed Neil’s life.

"There was a cage filled with birds. I hate to see caged birds. I requested the authorities to free them. He listened to me, allowed me to enter the big cage and free the birds personally. It was the most liberating experience of my life," said Neil who spent time talking to inmates, getting to know their minds and hearts.

The actor plays a prisoner in his next film "Jail" and says reality is completely different from reel.

"It is one thing to play a prisoner no matter how authentically; it’s another to actually go into this world away from the free world and experience the feelings of isolation inside," said the actor.

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