Johnny Gaddaar holds a special place in Neil Nitin Mukesh’s heart for numerous reasons, one of which is the fact that it was his debut role. In a chat with us recently, Neil shared that he prays daily, hoping to get a chance to reprise the role.

“Despite my constant efforts, there has not been any progress yet (on a possible sequel). I’ll keep pursuing the team, hoping to convince them that I am still relevant to reprise the role that is synonymous with me and my existence. Let’s hope things work out,” he said.

Neil has often found himself at the centre of internet humour. While he doesn’t support belittling someone for someone else’s 15 seconds of fame, he shared that he had no choice but to navigate this landscape.

“I never expected this to be the new norm. I do not belong to that school of thought. But then, the legends haven’t been spared, so who am I in comparison? Honestly, I’m still figuring out the meme culture, but have learned to smile it off as long as it makes someone happy,” he said.

Neil shared that roles with shades of grey attract him. The actor, who has played a variety of roles in his career, shared, “Roles with shades of grey have attracted me and thrillers are my forte. If the opportunity came by to something in that zone, I’d jump right into it.”

I feel one should not mess with classics. That said, if there was one role that I would absolutely love to recreate, it would be Rishi Kapoor's role from Yeh Vaada Raha.

Neil’s last big screen appearance was in 2019 (Bypass Road and Saaho). When asked if he plans to return in a movie soon, he replied, “I’ve never understood the term comeback. As an artiste, there are times one needs to sit back, rehearse, reinvent, but mostly sharpen the axe before getting back in the field. Unfortunately, the pandemic created a bigger gap in this process. The industry and its functioning changed. While offers were coming in, by the time I signed something exciting, it took longer than expected. But production and writing has kept me busy.”