Not Fair: Fair-Skinned Neil Being Forced To Look Shades Darker

Neil Nitin Mukesh and Katrina Kaif looked so gora together on screen in Kabir Khan’s New York that one of them had to tone down the fairness-quotient.

And naturally, the chosen one was Neil. He had to use tanned makeup in the film. Laughs Neil, “All three of us Katrina, John and I are light complexioned. John had a nice dark tan during the shooting in Philadelphia. But it was a fight between me and Katrina on who was looking fairer. She used to accuse me of looking more fairer than her.”

Eventually Neil had to settle for a tan to tone down his ‘fairness’. And not just in New York. He also had to tan himself in Aa Dekhe Zara for totally opposite reasons. Bipasha being dusky, Neil had to tone down his fair skin to match his co-star’s complexion.

“In fact I’ve become used to tanning my skin by now, for one reason or another,” laughs Neil.

About his next release Aa Dekhe Zara Neil is excited for more reasons than one. “It’s a film about seeing the future through the camera. We haven’t gone into the futuristic space at all. It breaks the myth about super-hero films. All super-heroes save the world. My character in Aa Dekha Zara is only interested in saving himself.”

As for his successful singing father Nitin Mukesh was scared Neil would let down not so much the legendary grandfather Mukesh as the equally-illustrious Kishore Kumar’s legacy.

Says Neil, “I’ve chosen to make my singing debut with a Kishore Kumar rather than my grandfather’s number which is fine by my family. We are all Kishore Kumar fans in my family.It would’ve been one thing to take one of my grandfather’s songs and turn it around. Ghar ki baat and all that. But this was a very special responsibility, to carry another legendary singer’s legacy forward. Glad I managed it.”