No more Mr Nice

Grandson of legendary singer Mukesh commits heinous crimes in his new film

No more Mr Nice

Grandson of legendary singer Mukesh commits heinous crimes in his new film

The best-kept secret of Abbas-Mustan's upcoming film Players, scheduled for release early next year, is Neil Nitin Mukesh's character. Mukesh plays the villain, who takes on the 'good guys'u00a0-- Abhishek Bachchan, Bobby Deol, Sonam Kapoor and Sikandar Kher.

One sequence in particular has got the industry buzzingu00a0-- Mukesh and Bachchan's bare-chested fight sequence. For this battle between good and evil, both actors prepared by putting in hours in the gym. Mukesh, in fact, has several fist fights with Bachchan and Deol in the film. However, Mukesh has been asked to remain tight-lipped about his character.

Said a source, "The rest of the team has been going to town talking about Players and the fun they had while shooting a long schedule in New Zealand. But Mukesh was instructed by his directors to remain mum. They didn't want him to let out the fact that he is playing a villain." According to the source, Mukesh's roleu00a0 is exceptionally vicious. The director duo seems to have made a career in turning 'heroes' into 'villains', and with some success too. Akshay Kumar played the villain in Ajnabee, Akshaye Khanna in Humraaz and Priyanka Chopra in Aitraaz.

However, according to sources, Mukesh was hesitant when Abbas-Mustan first approached him with the role. In fact, they told Neil that his character would be more evil than the villains in their earlier films. Finally, it was Mukesh's father, who is a playback singer, who convinced his son to take the part. Mukesh reportedly joked that he had never come across a more despicable person than his character in the film.

"Neil is busy being mean in real life too, so that he can stay in character for the next shooting schedule in Russia," said the source. Mukesh has, apparently, started reading up on how criminal minds work. His bedtime read at present is Colin Wilson's A Criminal History Of Mankind, a book which explains how a sociopath's mind operates, added the source.

When contacted, Mukesh was evasive. "I really can't comment on my role in the film. All I can tell you is that I injured my little finger in New Zealandu00a0 and I'm undergoing physiotherapy to heal it. Now, my dad's calling me the new Meena Kumari, since she too injured her little finger in a car accident, and would hide it in her sari, when she was in front of the camera. Hopefully mine will be okay. Otherwise, I wouldn't know where to hide it."

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