Bollywood Actor Neil Nitin Mukesh is celebrating his 42nd birthday today 15th January 2024. Son of Singer Nitin Mukesh and grandson of legendary singer Mukesh, Neil decided to pursue his career in the field of acting despite being born into a family of singers. Neil had once confessed in an interview, ‘Singing is my hobby but acting is my passion. A passion that my grandparents also nurtured. So, while my father continued his legacy and became a singer, I followed my passion and am living my grandfather’s dream.” Neil made his Bollywood debut with Sriram Raghavan’s thriller Johnny Gaddaar. For which he also received a Filmfare Best Debut nomination.After ‘Johnny Gaddar’, Neil acted in films like ‘Aa See Zara’, ‘New York’, ‘Jail’, ‘Lafange Parinde’, ‘Players’. Apart from Bollywood, he has also appeared in many South films. Few people know that he was named after American astronaut Neil Armstrong. Not only this, it was none other than the late Swar Kokila and legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar who gave this name to Neil. In an interview, Neil said, ‘When I was in college, I helped Aditya Chopra in his film ‘Muzhse Dosti Karoge’. I had earlier received many offers of lead actors, but I did not want to start my acting career with a love story. That’s why I waited.’
Apart from singing and acting, Neil is also a mimicry artist. He has imitated Mithun Chakraborty, Dev Anand, Salman Khan, Raj Kapoor, and many other legendary stars on many occasions. As a child, Neil never understood the profession of his father and grandfather and he used to think that only Raj Kapoor sings songs on screen. However, he lip-synced himself for a song from the film ‘Vijay’ and then realized that the actor never sings his own songs. Neil once revealed that ‘My real name is Neil Mathur. It was during my college days that I almost missed the admission and there was no way to get the form. Suddenly, the peon shouted ‘cultural quota’ and I filled out the form.’
He further said, ‘To get this last chance, I revealed my name as Neil Nitin Mukesh so that the college authorities could recognize my family background and give me admission. However, the importance of these three names was realized when the principal called me to his office and said one thing to me, ‘Neil, you are carrying forward three generations with these three legendary names, try to imitate your parents which Makes you feel proud. That was the moment when I never looked back. I continued the legacy of my family background and carried forward three generations with my name of which I am most proud till today.’
