After a rigorous crash-course in taekwondo in Bangkok, actor Neil Nitin Mukesh not only performed the martial arts for the camera, he also directed the action scenes of an innerwear ad himself.
It was a sure sign of this young actor’s progression towards his ultimate goal — direction. In fact, Neil’s mentor Yashraj Films have already reserved the rights verbally to launch Neil as a director.
Laughs the young actor: “That is some way off. But yes, I do plan to direct my own film some day, and not in the distant future. In the meanwhile, I’m here in Bangkok and I’ve directed all the stunts for an ad we shot for Gen-X innerwear. You could say my career as a director has started.” It was Neil’s idea that the ad have plenty of adrenaline-pumping action.
Incidentally, the taekwondo training is not just for the ad — it’s also for Dhoom 3, which Yashraj is getting ready to shoot. Speaking from Bangkok, Neil says, “It was my idea to combine the shooting of two back-to-back ads in Bangkok after my dates for Yashraj were readjusted. It’s been a super-hectic time since I arrived here. I first shot an action ad for the innerwear and then I’m now shooting a really erotic ad for a deodorant with all these firang babes. It was supposed to be like... first the action and then the araam.”