Sonam Kapoor lost oodles of weight before entering Bollywood, but her taste buds are still very active and she is busy binging on Goan food along with her ‘Players’ co-star Neil Nitin Mukesh. And guess who is jealous? Abhishek Bachchan!

The actors are shooting in Goa for their upcoming film ‘Players’, which is the remake of hit Hollywood movie ‘The Italian Job’ that also stars Abhishek and Sikandar Kher.

Sonam wrote on microblogging site Twitter: ‘Eaten so so much at Mum’s Kitchen in Goa!! Nothing beats Goan food.’

Neil also tweeted: ‘Got the day off in Goa. With my father at baga beach @ britto’s. Great to see so many kids here. Lovely weather. Awesome place great food’.

To which Abhishek replied: ‘Will the two of you stop eating and get serious about your work please!! Start starving like the rest of us!!! These children are out of control!!!’ More

Remember his spate of films? In a span of less than a year, Neil Nitin Mukesh has already churned out five big banner films. But, there’s a common factor linking all his films. Any guesses? Well, the common factor is the fact that all of them have been box-office duds except for YRF’s NEW YORK.

Now, the fortunes of Neil are hanging precariously. The actor is increasingly bagging roles with an ensemble cast. Something quite different from what he used to get earlier.

Adds our source, “B-Town is as ruthless as it always was. Neil used to bag some of the biggest bollywood projects till recently and the interesting fact was that in all these films he was playing the solo lead. Now, matters have reversed. If you do an analysis of Neil’s career, his forthcoming films like THE ITALIAN JOB and SAAT KHOON MAAF are multi-star projects. Judging by his innings in bollywood so far, solo projects might be a hard thing to come Neil way now.”

Well, it’s not just our source who has got the analysis right, even our readers will agree no less on that. What say? Source

Neil Nitin Mukesh had to kiss Deepika Padukone on screen for their forthcoming film Lafange Parindey and the actor reportedly got cold feet. Not because he’s a virgin screen-kisser and, well, Deepika has the experience of kissing Saif Ali Khan before camera for Love Aaj Kal… but, apparently, because Neil’s had a no-kiss policy in all his films so far.

His first director Sriram Raghavan had thrown a fit when Neil refused to kiss Rimi Sen. In his second film, Tera Kya Hoga Johnny, director Sudhir Mishra insisted Neil kiss Shahana Goswami. But the actor refused. Even in Jail where there was a love-making scene with Mughda Godse, Neil refused to kiss the sultry actress. But Lafange Parindey director Pradeep Sarkar pulled the plug on Neil’s chastity vow.

A source from the set said it was a long, torrid smooch comparable in intensity and duration to the Aamir Khan-Karisma Kapoor kiss in Raja Hindustani. And Neil was nervous! To be kissing the lovely Deepika! Makes us wonder. Source

Its wedding winter all over in Bollywood. After Shilpa Shetty’s wedding, actor Neil Nitin Mukesh is all set to tie the knot with his girlfriend, Priyanka Bhatia who is a Mumbai-based fashion designer, in 2010. Neil, who has had a long-standing relationship with Priyanka, has now confirmed that he is engaged to his girl, and plans to marry her by the end of next year.
 
“I love Priyanka. She’s the best thing to have happened to me,” Neil said.

Talking to a news daily, a source close to Neil said, “Neil and Priyanka hope to tie the knot next year. He is very possessive about Priyanka, and has kept her identity under wraps so far, to avoid undue attention. However, some people saw that as a sign of him being ashamed at admitting his relationship. That is why he has decided to come out with it. Priyanka even accompanied him to the premiere of ‘Jail’ but at that time no one knew about her, so she wasn’t photographed.”

Priyanka is quite reserved and does not talk about Neil openly, according to a source. Source

According to Madhur Bhandarkar his upcoming film, Jail will be the first Hindi film to show life of a prisoner inside the anda cell and the psychological torture that prisoners undergo there.

While Bharat Shah, Ketan Parekh, Sanjay Dutt and Ajmal Kasab have been lodged in the anda cell, Bhandarkar’s camera doesn’t pan on the life of any celebrity behind bars. “I don’t know why an anda cell is shaped that way or even called so. I’ve never seen a real-life anda cell either. Hence, what I show is based on my research and imagination,” Bhandarkar says, adding, “High security prisoners in an anda cell aren’t allowed homecooked food. There is no provision for fans. Light rays filter into the cell through a glass flap on the ceiling. For anda cell inmates, life in prison normally means a blanket, a pillow, a cheap German silver plate and a bowl. One portion of the cell is reserved as a loo! During the initial days in these cells, most inmates go into a fit of rage and even scream abuses.”

The cell that was created for shooting Neil’s sequence was just 7 ft by 10 ft in size. “But, we didn’t create any oval-shaped cell. My cousin, Kalpesh Bhandarkar, is the cinematographer of Jail. He had a tough time setting the lights and placing the camera inside. I’d only shoot these scenes at night. The whole film has been shot chronologically so that Neil gets a feel of what his character must be going through when he is lodged there.” More

The stunning looking actor Neil Nitin Mukesh has apparently replaced another handsome hunk John Abraham in the yet untitled film starring Akshay Kumar and being directed by David Dhawan’s son Rohit Dhawan.

The reason, our source reveals is ‘cost cutting’. What with the on going recession, the makers, Eros apparently felt taking John would have multiplied their making costs and it would have been better to opt for a much cheaper and now also reliable Neil Nitin Mukesh for the same part. Neil shall be playing the role of a pole dancer along with Akshay Kumar in a strip club in the film. The film is a romantic comedy and the leading ladies for the two male leads are yet to be finalized.

Another source reveals, “John is presently in London shooting for Abbas Tyrewala’s next after Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na and still doesn’t yet have the complete idea as to why he has been dropped.” Source

Abbas Mustan’s official remake of Hollywood blockbuster Italian Job with Saif Ali Khan had hit a roadblock recently when the men in white couldn’t get a proper star cast. But now the problem is solved as the makers have made up their mind to cast Neil Nitin Mukesh, Bipasha Basu and Kareena Kapoor along with Saif in the film.
The Hollywood film was also a remake of a British film by the same name having Michael Caine in the lead. And so Abbas Mustan wanted cool dudes to be part of its desi remake. But when from John Abraham to Ranbir Kapoor couldn’t give them the desired dates, they settled for Neil. As for Saif, he was on board the film from the first day the idea struck the makers.

The film is a crime thriller about two thieves who pull off an amazing stunt of creating the biggest ever traffic jam in Los Angeles. It’s still not sure whether the shooting will take place in Los Angeles or not but there are possibilities that it will. Commenting on the film, Abbas-Mustan said that they have considerably altered the script of the film. There will be two female characters in the film, which was not case in the original. Charlize Theron had played the single female lead role in the film while Kareena Kapoor and Bipasha Basu are accommodated in the desi version. Source

Neil Nitin Mukesh is having a ball out here.

After the success of New York, which was also actor Neil Nitin Mukesh’s first commercial success, the actor seems to be on a spending spree.

The actor took zoom out for shopping to buy a couple of watches of the brand ‘Moralleto’ which he endorses.

Sharing his knowledge on watches he explained the various kinds of watches that were available and also told us about what would suit on which attire. Now that’s like timely gyan…Way to go boy! Source

Amongst the main leads of the film, Neil Nitin Mukesh has every reason to be happy not just because it is his first mega box office success but the running that he did on Mumbai streets to bag this film ended up paying rich dividends. Confused? Well read on.

Not many know that Neil started his career as an assistant director to Yash Raj films Mujse Dosti Karoge. In fact Neil also performed as a child star in Yash Raj Films Vijay.  Hence Neil says he knew what a stickler for perfection director Producer Aditya Chopra was.

Neil recalls, “I was shooting in Colaba, for a film when Aditya Chopra called me for a narration. He asked me to reach Yash Raj studios by 6.00 in the evening. I left Colaba and reached Bandra but then our car got stuck in the traffic jam. I got out of my car and started running from Bandra to Juhu. There I took a rickshaw and reached Andheri. My make up man Wasim too joined me. But in Andheri once again we got stuck in the traffic jam. I then left the rickshaw and went running till Yash Raj Studios. I stood outside the gate and called Adi Chopra and told him I will be five minutes late. I then went to the wash room to get fresh and applied a little make up and got ready to meet Adi. I wanted to work with Kabir Khan as I had liked his earlier movie Kabul Express and didn’t want to miss the opportunity. Today when the film has done well I feel that all the running from Bandra to Andheri indeed was for no loss. It really helped me.” Source

Just when this came in limelight about Salman Khan fuming over his beloved’s co-star Neil Nitin Mukesh, calling her ‘sweetheart’, now it turns out that Salman himself thinks Neil is a ‘sweetheart’! Well they met recently on the sets of the popular show ’10 Ka Dum’ where Sallubhai took an instant liking at him. So much so that he announced that they were friends from now on.

When Salman asked Neil if they had really shot the entire film NEW YORK in the city of New York itself. To which Neil earnestly replied, ”Yashraj is a big banner and they shoot wherever it is required to and spare no costs.” Hearing this, our stylebhai Salman quipped at once in a lighthearted note, ”Lucky you, we shot for LONDON DREAMS in Punjab!” Later Salman also got Neil to sing (grandfather Mukesh’s song), dance and even mimic late Sanjeev Kumar and Mithun Chakraborty & SRK, But Neil seemed nervous with Salman’s comments on it.

It seems Salman has buried the hitch with Neil. Was it the ‘blue’-eyed boy’s wonders or is Sallu cooling down, we are yet to know. Source

In Madhur Bhandarkar’s Jail, Neil Mukesh has done something which many actors hesitate to do – go nude for a scene! In the film Neil plays a prisoner, and undergoes various kinds of torture by the authorities.

Director Bhandarkar is known as being a stickler for realistic scenes and so took Neil and few other unit members to visit prisons across the country. Bhandarkar made sure Neil was comfortable doing the scene and filmed it with only himself and the cinematographer present in the room. Mukesh reveals that what happens to his character in the movie is extremely humiliating, but asserts that the scene was filmed very professionally.

Sources say that Bhandarkar wanted to shoot the scene in such a way that it wouldn’t be labelled vulgar. The director made a conscious effort to keep the audience’s sentiments in mind when filming the scene. Bhandarkar was apparently adamant that the particular torture scene appears in the movie so viewers could get a sense of what goes on in jails. Source

To showcase the music of their forthcoming Aa Dekhen Zara, Eros International, the leading London-listed Indian media and entertainment company launched the band ADZ – Rising at Enigma, Marriott in Mumbai last night. In an exciting performance by the band led by the film’s music director Gourav Dasgupta, the lead cast of the film – Bipasha Basu and Neil Nitin Mukesh also joined the band on stage. What followed was a thrilling performance by the band and Neil himself who has sung the title track Aa Dekhen Zara accompanied by an enthusiastic Bipasha grooving to the tunes.

In a unique marketing initiative, Viki Rajani, the producer of Jehangir Surti’s Aa Dekhen Zara in conjunction with Gourav Dasgupta, has created a band to promote the film. The band will follow a club trail and perform at leading hotspots in various cities over the next few weeks across the country including Mumbai, Bangalore, Delhi etc as part of the film’s music promotion. Adding icing to the cake will be Neil Nitin Mukesh who will accompany the band during the various club performances. Full News