Neil brings girlfriend out in the open

Neil Nitin Mukesh, who has kept mum about his girlfriend Priyanka Bhatia so far, showed up with her for the first time at the premiere of his critically acclaimed film "Jail". He says she is an integral part of his family and that they enjoy a good comfort level.

"My parents and her parents not only know and like each other, we also visit each other's homes constantly. More than lovers, we're friends first," Neil told IANS.

"There's a comfort level in our interaction that makes us very relaxed with one another. We don't have to hide anything. We meet openly and are very proud of one another. There's no pressure for marriage on either side. When it happens, it happens. The marital status would hardly alter anything between us," he added.

Priyanka has done a course in fashion design and Neil is open to the idea of her designing his clothes for his films.

"I'd love that. But it should happen on its own. Neither Priyanka nor I want to pressurise anyone to use her skills. But if it happens, I'd be very happy to be dressed up by her," he said.

Talking about his girlfriend's reaction to "Jail", he said: "Priyanka and my mom were hysterical with grief. They weren't looking at just a character being put through a traumatic time. To them it was someone who they both love and he was in pain in front of their eyes."

Talking more about work, Neil admits that there is healthy rivalry between him and Ranbir Kapoor.

"Ranbir and I are of course competitors. But there's no negative rivalry between us. Our respective fathers (Nitin Mukesh and Rishi Kapoor) would kill us if we behaved like two brats fighting for the same roles," said Neil.

"I'm proud that Ranbir's and my grandfather (Raj Kapoor and Mukesh) were very close friends. My father and Ranbir's father adore each other. Ranbir is like my younger brother," he added

Neil's "Jail" and Ranbir's "Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani" released on the same day.

"I'd want Ranbir's film to do as well as mine," Neil says. "Fortunately, 'Jail' and 'Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani' look like north and south poles." Advertisement

Neil Walks ramp in handcuffs!

Bollywood actors Neil Nitin Mukesh, Mugdha Godse and Manoj Bajpai along with filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar, displayed a creation by designer Reynu Tandon at the Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week in New Delhi, India, Tuesday, October 27, Advertisement

My parents will be proud of my nu-de scene: Neil

He does a full monty in Madhur Bhandarkar's upcoming movie Jail, but Neil Nitin Mukesh insists the nude scenes won't distract any mother because the narrative is high on emotional quotient.

"I was asked to strip down completely and the only question before doing the scene that I had in mind was - what would be my parents' reaction when they watch the film? Would they be ashamed of me as their son? But I think they'll be extremely proud of me as an actor to have gone ahead and done it with a lot of courage," said Neil.

"In fact, no mother sitting in the audience will be distracted with the skin show in the film. My character Parag Dixit is extremely high on emotional quotient and people are going to be attached to that. I don't want anybody to notice the body in that scene and if someone still gets distracted, then probably he or she is not yet connected to the character," added the 27-year-old.

But wasn't he apprehensive about going full monty?

"There was a slight hesitation initially in the sense that I was a bit shy in terms of taking off the clothes, thinking it was for a billion people. But I was confident that Madhur sir will handle it with a lot of grace and dignity, which he has," said the young actor who debuted in an unconventional role in Johnny Gaddar.

Co-produced by Percept Picture Company and Bhandarkar Entertainment, Jail is the hard-hitting yet sensitive tale of an ordinary man who finds himself inside a prison due to a series of unfortunate events.

Releasing Nov 6, it also stars Manoj Bajpai in a pivotal role with Mugdha Godse in the female lead.

Asked about the controversy over the nude scene, Neil said, "I won't say it is blown out of proportion. It deserves the attention it has been getting because it is for the first time that an actor has gone ahead and done something like this. Though that was not the motive behind it; it was to actually project what really happens inside a jail.

"And it's a reality-based film, so we wanted to portray and show everything that actually happens with jail inmates. This is one of the most important, crucial and initial procedures that one really goes through in a jail.

"We couldn't take that off and go a step ahead because people who are law-abiding or have studied law and belong to the system would obviously know this is one process that has been completely ignored," he explained.

The actor, who was last seen in the hit movie New York, also had to get rid of his muscular body for the role in Jail.

"When I came back after doing New York, I was in the greatest shape of my life. But when I met Madhur, he told me to lose all my muscle and get into the character of Parag Dixit and leave Neil Nitin Mukesh aside," he said.

Not many know that the four-film-old actor tried his hand at the "method-acting approach" for the film.

"I adopted the method-acting approach for Jail because otherwise I wouldn't have identified with the character. Somewhere on the screen it would have faltered and looked rehearsed. I didn't want to prepare at all before I did the scenes," he said.

"In fact, I asked Madhur sir to shoot the film in a chronological order from first to last and that's what he has done, so that I could live the life of Parag Dixit and the graph could grow that way," he added.

Neil's future projects include films with Pradeep Sarkar and Abbas-Mustan while his Tera Kya Hoga Johnny is waiting to roll out. Advertisement