Neil Nitin Mukesh on comeback with Hisaab Barabar, rejecting big projects: 'Darr lagta tha kaam milega...' | Exclusive

Actor and filmmaker Neil Nitin Mukesh returns to films after his last film Bypass Road (2019). Known for impressing the audience with his grey-shade roles in Johnny Gaddaar, 7 Khoon Maaf, and Wazir; Mukesh made his comeback with the satirical action comedy, Hisaab Barabar. Directed by Ashwini Dhir, the film marks Neil's OTT debut and it also stars R Madhavan and Kriti Kulharni in key roles. 

The movie was released on ZEE5 on January 24 and got positive reviews from critics and audiences. Amid the positive reviews, Neil joins DNA India for an exclusive interaction, discussing why he disappeared from films, what made him say yes to Hisaab Barabar, and what his take on the OTT world. 

Neil, in his elated voice, exclaims that his phone is constantly ringing with calls and congratulatory messages. In the latest film, Neil plays Micky Mehta, a flamboyant bank owner, who's earning millions by conning his customers. Sharing his views on the role, and his absence, Neil says, "After Bypass Road, we were hit by Corona pandemic. In this 1.5-2 years, I was writing, developing my next projects, so that time." Neil further adds that after the pandemic, he was getting offers, but he was not happy with the roles he was been offered. "After Covid, OTT boomed, but I realised that here also a few were churning content as projects. Due to this trend, somewhere the content was suffering. So I took my time, and said no to several projects, including big movie offers." 

Neil further reveals that after a while he started doubting that his constant rejection of offers might affect his visibility as well. "Kabhi darr lagta tha ki itne projects mana kiya hai...aage kaam milega ya nahi (laughs). Kabhi aisa bhi hua ki Maine haan kar di, but then producer-director ka kuch problem ho gaya, and the project got scrapped. So after striving through it, I came across Hisaab Barabar, and I considered it as the most relevant film of recent times." Neil further explained, "The basic topic of this film- corruption, bank irregularities, will be discussed and will stay relevant even in the next five years. Ashwini sir did a fab job of balancing the issue with a tongue-in-cheek humour."  

Speaking about playing a villain, Neil admits that he has said no to several movies where he was offered the villain role, and explains his reason. "In this movie, my role of Mickey Mehta is making sense to some extent. There is a proper arc to my character. He's not a one-tone character, who's just there to screw the protagonist's life. He's earning money through his tricks, and he gets furious with Radhe Mohan's (R Madhavan) constant intervention. My character had different shades with logical conflict, and some great lines. These all factors impressed me, and thus I said yes to Hisaab Barabar.