The boyish Neil Nitin Mukesh has given us a glimpse of his potential in Johnny Gaddar and New York and is now trying a completely different role in Madhur Bhandarkar’s allegedly, starkly realistic Jail.

He was in Delhi for the film’s promotion along with director Madhur Bhandarkar and co-actor Manoj Bajpai. Dressed in a beige T-shirt and jeans and still sporting the stubble from the film, Mukesh said, “The intention was not to shock the audience but to tell it as it is.” He was talking about the scene where he stripped completely. The 27-year-old admitted to being shy and having “serious reservations” about the dramatic scene. “But then I agreed to the part because I knew it would be something my parents would be proud of,” he said.

The crew had a 42-day shooting schedule in jails across the country, including the Thane Jail and the Yerawada Jail. “I was shocked initially,” said Mukesh, recalling his experience. “You feel like a caged bird.”

While in Delhi, Mukesh also paid a visit to the Tihar jail where he interacted with inmates and sang the song Daata sun le from the film. Since Mukesh portrays the role of a corporate professional who has been wrongly sentenced, he needed to work hard to tone down his muscular look, which he had acquired for New York. “Madhur asked me to lose my bulk and look like an ordinary man on the street. It would look a bit odd if I projected a well-built inmate,” he laughed. His next project is a romantic comedy with Pradeep Sarkar starring Deepika Padukone.