Neil Nitin Mukesh

Biography:

Mukesh was born on January 15, 1982, as Neil Nitin Mukesh Chand Mathur in Bombay (now Mumbai), Maharashtra, India.Son of legendary vocalist Mukesh, his father is Bollywood playback singer Nitin Mukesh. His paternal grandpa was a Mathur Kayastha from Delhi, while his paternal grandmother was a Shrimali Brahmin from Gujarat. Lata Mangeshkar gave him the name Neil Armstrong in honour of the American astronaut. He played the youthful Rishi Kapoor and Govinda in the films Vijay (1988) and Jaisi Karni Waisi Bharnii (1989), respectively.

Mukesh received his education at HR College in Mumbai, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in business on the advice of his father. Despite coming from a singing family, he ultimately made the decision to pursue a career in acting. The actor stated, “Acting is my passion, but singing is my hobby,” in an interview with The Times of India. Even my granddad shared this interest. Therefore, I pursued my father’s other love while he perpetuated his heritage by becoming a singer. I am carrying out his dream. Actor Anupam Kher instructed Neil at a four-month programme at the Kishore Namit Kapoor Acting Institute.

Mukesh appeared in Abbas-Mustan’s Players in 2012 alongside Abhishek Bachchan, Sonam Kapoor, Bipasha Basu, and Bobby Deol in an ensemble role. It was a remake of the 2003 Hollywood heist thriller The Italian Job, and both the movie and Mukesh’s performance were box office duds. In the words of Subhash K. Jha, he “brings a mean menacing tone to the villainy.” As for Mukesh, Sukanya Verma of Rediff.com says that he “mistakes sinister for superficial, resulting in a truly phoney performance.”

Mukesh appeared in three films in 2013, however none of them did well at the box office. In Bejoy Nambiar’s action-drama David, his first film to be released, he plays a criminal whose boss rules the Asian community in 1970s London. The actor claimed that the dual nature of his role intrigued him: “Here was this hardcore, extremely violent gangster, and on the other hand, my director wanted me to show the emotional and romantic side to him too.”Although the movie received mixed reviews, Mukesh’s performance was praised by critics. Madhureeta Mukherjee, writing for The Times of India, called it “restrained and powerful,” and Rajeev Masand, of CNN-IBN, said Mukesh is “nicely understated.”

He next made an appearance in the horror movie 3G from Eros International with Sonal Chauhan. The movie, which was filmed in Fiji, detailed how the couple encounters paranormal events after purchasing a 3G phone. Critics did not give the movie a favourable review. Ankur Pathak wrote on Mukesh for Rediff.com and called him “aggressively over the top” with the additional comment that his “body language is consistently uncomfortable.” Alongside Ameesha Patel and Puja Gupta, he also starred in the murder thriller Shortcut Romeo by Susi Ganeshan.

Mukesh has finished filming two films: Manish Vatsalya’s Dussehra, in which he plays an encounter specialist alongside Tena Desae, and Prerna Wadhwan’s romance drama Ishqeria, in which he will act opposite Richa Chadda. He made his film debut in Kaththi, directed by AR Murugadoss. Alongside Salman Khan and Sonam Kapoor, he also appeared in the 2015 family drama Prem Ratan Dhan Payo directed by Sooraj R. Barjatya. Additionally, he had a cameo in Wazir.

In November 2018, he changed his role to producer and began shooting Bypass Road, a thriller-drama movie written by him and directed by his brother Naman Nitin Mukesh. The movie is slated to debut on November 1, 2019.

He acted as the antagonist Jai, also known as Ashok Chakravarty, in Sujeeth’s multilingual film Saaho, which was released in 2019.