10 years of 7 Khoon Maaf | Neil Nitin Mukesh: At a time when actors were conscious of their image, I was offered this film
Actor Neil Nitin Mukesh recalls playing the menacing role of Major Edwin Rodrigues opposite Priyanka Chopra Jonas as 7 Khoon Maaf completes 10 years of its release on February 18.
Actor Neil Nitin Mukesh has starred in a number of critically acclaimed films, and 7 Khoon Maaf is definitely one of them. He played the role of one of Priyanka Chopra Jonas’ character’s husband, and his menacing avatar fetched him good reviews.
As the film hits the 10 year milestone on February 18, he recalls, “There is no actor in our country who would not want to boast of having worked with Vishal Bhardwaj, the National Award winning director. He creates magic on screen. His story telling is as beautiful as his music. He happens to be a fantastic actor himself and the depth of understanding emotions that Vishal sir has makes him a dream teacher for students like me. I learnt both the craft of nuanced performance and the technical expertise of executing a scene brilliantly by him.”
All praises for Chopra as well, he adds, “Priyanka for me has always been one of the finest actors India has produced. Her body of work and varied roles have always made her stand out. Getting to have worked with her and share screen space with her was surely one of the best experiences of my career.”
About the character he portrayed in the film — Major Edwin Rodrigues — the 39-year-old admits it was a tough one. Mukesh says it was a decision to break away from his previous image.
“For me as an actor it has always been about the kind of roles I choose to portray on screen that leave a mark, an impact with the audience. At a time when actors were very conscious of their on screen persona and lover boy image, I was offered this role. I thought it would be yet another feather in my cap to portray the one legged twitched faced obsessive character on screen and needless to say, get to work with the greats,” says the actor.
Based on a short story written by Ruskin Bond, the film also starred Irrfan and John Abraham. Mukesh says he indeed read it before getting started.
Recounting how it was to slip into the role, he reveals he went the extra mile, “The scene where I had to fight bare body with a hunter. I wanted to gain weight to look the part of a drunk one legged army officer who has slowly given up on himself but at the same time I wanted his evil streak and menace to come around. I put pebbles in my shoe to make sure that I do not forget my limping while the action scene was being filmed as I was concentrating more on not hurting my coactor accidentally. By the end of the shoot my legs were bruised and cut so bad thy the next day of limping came naturally.”
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