Here's why Neil Nitin Mukesh thinks ‘toxic’ Bollywood enjoys someone’s failure

Neil Nitin Mukesh had his fair share of successes and failures. Hence, he has seen how people’s mindset and perception changed depending on where his career graph was. In an exclusive interview with SCREEN, the son of playback singer Nitin Mukesh stated that there are people in the ‘toxic’ Hindi film industry who rejoice when an artist faces a rough patch.

He told the publication that in Bollywood, people celebrate when a film doesn’t work on a Friday. “You are happier for someone’s failure than for someone’s success,” Neil Nitin Mukesh claimed, adding that when someone is around that atmosphere, the only way forward is to have that passion and self-belief.

The Johnny Gaddaar actor further expressed that the overwhelming criticism in Bollywood sometimes becomes toxic. “It does happen, and it happens to a point where it gets toxic. I have seen that a lot, and I still see that a lot,” Neil stated, adding that people don’t laud each other for their successes unless they’re extremely close to them.

In the same conversation, the New York actor stated that too much body shaming also happens in the industry. According to him, there are actors who say, ‘This guy should lose weight.’ But Neil fails to understand why they talk about someone’s appearance and not their performances. Even when he lost weight for his role in the upcoming OTT dance drama, Hai Junoon, people started asking him if he was suffering from some illness.

It affected the actor so much that now he feels “looking a certain way is a handicap” because half of the time, he is fighting to convince people not to go by his skin tone or his golden locks. Since he is often judged based on the way he looks, he doesn’t get opportunities despite feeling he could have played the part better.

Citing examples of Bollywood superstars, Neil Nitin Mukesh stated that even today, Shah Rukh Khan pushes himself to mold into different avatars. Even Hrithik Roshan, who did Super 30, colored himself dark and Saif Ali Khan played a Langda Tyagi in Omkara. “So sometimes, looks can be a handicap,” he rests his case.

ALSO READ: Neil Nitin Mukesh admits he was called ‘angrez ka baccha’ and ‘firangi’; here’s how actor turned it all into positives