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’

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.