Bollywood actor Neil Nitin Mukesh, who started his career with a noir thriller Johnny Gaddaar, believes that the thriller genre isn’t thriving on original ideas anymore. The 40-year-old actor criticised Bollywood filmmakers and writers by saying that their focus is more on ‘remaking films’ when it should be on ‘original ideas and content’ instead.
In conversation with Times of India, the New York actor spoke about Bollywood’s penchant for remakes. Saying that Bollywood likes to play it “safe”, Neil exclaimed, “There are various sub-genres, like psychological thrillers, political thrillers, horror thrillers and so on. Why aren’t we exploring those? We are still remaking films instead of coming up with original ideas and content. In Bollywood, we have original ideas, but I feel that we prefer to play it safe.”
He also shed light on how the industry measures an actor’s worth solely based on commercial successes. To keep up with the determined formula to fame, the Saaho actor shared that he tries to strike a balance by doing all kinds of films. “I believe that in showbiz, I have to be a little sensible and strike a balance. The truth is that, not just in our industry, but among the audience as well, the general perception of an actor is based on his commercial success. While I love being a part of a film like Jail, I will also do entertainers like Players and Prem Ratan Dhan Payo,” he said.
Neil’s early frame of work includes many projects in the thriller genre with sci-fi thrillers Aa Dekhen Zara, Madhur Bhandarkar’s Jail, and Sudhir Mishra’s Tera Kya Hoga Johnny. However, he got his major commercial breakthrough with the 2009 film New York—also a thriller— which starred John Abraham and Katrina Kaif alongside him.
On the work front, Neil was last seen in the 2019 film Bypass Road. Later that year, he also appeared in a supporting role in the Prabhas-starrer Saaho. He will next be seen on the silver screen in the delayed Ankush Bhatt film Firrkie, which also stars Kay Kay Menon and Jackie Shroff, among others.
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