Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na was offered to me first, recalls Neil Nitin Mukesh: ‘I got Johnny Gaddaar and this, was told to choose one'

Indian Express

13-05-2025

Neil Nitin Mukesh comes from a film family but unlike many of his peers, he did not get a starry launch in the movies. Instead, Neil made his debut in Sriram Raghavan's Johnny Gaddaar where Neil did not play a traditional hero. In a recent interview, Neil shared that at the time, he was also offered Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na, which was a quintessential college romance film, and he was given the option of choosing either one of these movies as his debut vehicle.
In a chat with Just Too Filmy, Neil shared that he 'was offered two films on the same day' by producer Jhamu Sughand. 'One was Johnny Gaddaar and the other was Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na, which was Imran Khan's debut,' he said. Neil recalled that Jhamu gave him scripts for both these films and asked him to read them both. 'I loved Jaane Tu… It was a love story, and that was the trend,' he said and recalled that at this time, he was often told that he looked like a 'chocolate boy' and Neil did not enjoy this tag. 'This annoyed me and I also thought to myself, 'Is that how I look?' he wondered.
Neil Nitin Mukesh said that when he met Jhamu Sughand at a party, he got an invitation to his office. Upon landing there, Jhamu told him that he would be able to take up only one of the two films being offered, and he will have to audition for both. At this time, Neil decided to take a step back as he wondered that actors like Ranbir Kapoor and Harman Baweja were going to get launched with films like Saawariya and Love Story 2050, and he had to wonder if his launch film would hold against these big budget films. Nevertheless, Neil auditioned for both but his 'gut instinct' told him to choose Johnny Gaddaar.
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'Jaane Tu… was destined for Imran. It was an honour that I even got to read the film,' he said and added, 'I will never say that I rejected Jaane Tu… I didn't have the honour of working on that film. If I had the privilege of working on both, I'd eat both of them and give my 100 percent but unfortunately for me, I couldn't work on Jaane Tu.'
In the same chat, Neil shared that even though he is the son of illustrious singer Nitin Mukesh, and the grandson of singer Mukesh, he was told at a very young age that he won't get a starry launch. 'At 13, my father told me that I have a daughter and I have to get her married. I also have a younger son who is ten years younger, I have to get him educated. Don't ever think that I can even put Rs 5 in making a film for you. I was 13 and I panicked. I didn't sleep that night,' he said.
Neil Nitin Mukesh has been in the movies since 2007. He was last seen in the Zee5 film Hisaab Barabar, and will next be seen in the web series Hai Junoon.