Neil Nitin Mukesh is the son of singer Nitin Mukesh and grandson of the illustrious playback singer Mukesh. Unlike his father and grandfather, Neil decided to pursue a career in acting and not playback singing. What is not so well known is that the late Mukesh also harboured dreams of becoming an actor and even acted in a couple of films. But his métier lay in playback singing and that's where he made a name for himself. Hence, in a manner of speaking, Neil has followed his grandfather's footsteps. In his recent film, Aa Dekhen Zara (2009), the young actor even sang the title song. Of course, it remains to be seen if he will pursue a career in music like his grandfather. It is an option which he has never ruled out.
Neil did the usual assisting and enlisting in acting schools to groom himself for the silver screen. He assisted Aditya Chopra in Mujhse Dosti Karoge (2004) and waited for the right break to come along. He chose director Sriram Raghavan's Johnny Gaddar (2007) over a conventional love story as his launch vehicle, a fact which made him stand out from the crowd.
Of course, facing the camera was not something new for Neil, who had actually made his acting debut with Yash Chopra's Vijay (1988), when he was just four years old. But it was Johnny Gaddar (2007) which pitched him on the road to fame. The film was not a big commercial hit, but Neil's performance was outstanding. Critics were unanimous in their opinion about the arrival of a new acting sensation. The actor's second release Aa Dekhen Zara (2009) too did not fare well at the box office, but that should not deter Neil, who has many more aces up his sleeve like Madhur Bhandrakar's Jail (2009), Kabir Khan's New York (2009) for the Yash Raj banner and Sudhir Mishra's Tera Kya Hoga Johnny (2009).
