"I don't fear failure at all as it is a step towards success. Failure is something that teaches you and helps to keep you grounded," said Neil, who’s still waiting for one hit film that will help him establish firmly in the industry.

"I have given my best always and take everything in a positive stride,” added the actor.

Neil made his debut in the industry with an unconventional film ‘Johnny Gaddar’ in 2007 and managed to walk away with lots of critical acclaim for his performance, despite the fact that film bombed on the box office.

Although Industry insiders dubbed him as “the next best thing” in Bollywood, nothing of that sort happened and one after another Neil ended up with a string of flop films to his credit.

Paisa Wasool
Till date Neil has done five films that includes ‘Aa Dekhen Zara,’ ‘New York,’ ‘Jail,’ and 'Lafangey Parindey'. These films managed to recover the funds invested in them but failed to do any miracles for Neil’s career.

"To be very honest I'm delighted with the fact that with all the films I did, the producers of those did not suffer losses. At least they recovered their costs,” said the 28-year-old actor.

He further revealed that majority of filmmakers, with whom he had previously worked with, are keen to sign him for their future projects.

He’s currently busy working on films like ‘Player,’ ‘Saat Khoon Maaf,’ and ‘Pocketmaar,’ and is eagerly awaiting the release of his latest ‘Tera Kya Hoga Johnny' (on Dec. 17).

Strangely, in Sudhir Mishra’s ‘Tera Kya….’ Neil will be seen playing a second lead.

Acting dreams
Neil, son of singer Nitin Mukesh and grandson of legendary singer Mukesh, despite being born into a family of singers, wanted to act in films rather than follow his family's tradition.

As per Neil, he never thought that he could make a career in singing like his father/grandfather as he knew acting was his true calling.

Before making a full-fledged Bollywood debut, Neil had worked as a child actor in films like ‘Vijay’ and ‘Jaisi Karni Waisi Bharni,’ and has assisted Aditya Chopra in 'Mujhse Dosti Karoge.'