Neil and His Legacy

Neil Nitin Mukesh may be making his way into the arena of film acting, but the guy cannot get away from his legacy and musical genes, try as much as he may want to.


Being the grandson of the legendary playback singer Mukesh, and the son of Nitin Mukesh, it was but natural that music was an integral part of Neil's life. But he chose to prove his mettle in the field of acting and succeeded to quite an extend with his very first film Johnny Gaddar. Now his second movie, Aa Dekhen Zara is all set to release this Friday. He is cast opposite Bipasha Basu in this thriller. But what is really amazing about this movie is that Neil has even sung a song for this film. Though it is a Kishore Kumar number, which had been composed by RD Burman for Sanjay Dutt's debut film, Rocky, the Aa Dekhen Zara number, Neil has given a brave rendition. It is almost as if his genes have willed it so. In fact, rumours have it that the young actor is also into composing and has quite a few tunes up his sleeve. He has not really gone into it seriously, but since he is believed to be in the habit of tinkering with his piano, it seems that he has even composed a few tunes and some of his composer friends have been quite encouraging. Even though it is always very difficult to live up to a legend, the only advantage that Neil holds is that he has arrived on the scene many years after the death of the late Mukesh. Carrying legacies forward is not easy. There is too much pressure and too many expectations. Neil's father Nitin, would know it best. Despite being a very talented singer, he could not carve out a very successful career in playback singing because he was constantly expected to live up to his father's achievements, which is not being very fair. But many years have passed. Most of Gen X has hardly heard of Mukesh, so they will judge Neil on his own merit, without comparisons. So with Aa Dekhen Zara, Neil makes his singing debut and who knows, we may soon be seeing him composing as well. Seems we have another multitalented personality in the industry along with Farhan Akhtar.