On Sets: Neil Nitin Mukesh Is A Real Player

- November 30, 2011 | 1:07 PM IST

Neil Nitin Mukesh in a still from Players

With Abbas-Mustan as the directors, grueling shooting schedules are a must, as the director duo makes sure that they get the best out of their crew and their actors, no matter what the weather conditions are.

So when actor Neil Nitin Mukesh was shooting for Players in sub-zero temperatures in Russia, something that left him with frost bites, the actor didn’t mind at all. Not just that, Neil also shot with a fractured finger for over 2 weeks. Comments director Abbas, “Neil’s finger was in a bad shape and the doctor recommended operation. A very heavy object had fallen on his finger during a fight scene and though we did not think it would get so bad, by the end of that day he was in a lot of pain.”

However, Neil insisted on going ahead with the shooting as he did not want to inconvenience his Players team. “Neil somehow convinced the make-up artistes to cover the injury so it wouldn’t be visible. He waited for another 15 days post the injury to be able to fix the damage,” adds the director.

Presented by Viacom 18 Motion Pictures, Abbas-Mustan’s Players is a remake of the Hollywood film, The Italian Job. Players stars Abhishek Bachchan, Sonam Kapoor, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Bipasha Basu, Bobby Deol, Sikander Kher and Omi Vaidya. The film is scheduled to release on January 6, 2012.