Neil breaks a thumb
The actor plays a wheelchair-bound character in the film, and broke his thumb while learning how to operate the chair.
Bypass Road has been the most physically exhausting film of Neil Nitin Mukesh’s career.
“I play a character confined to a wheelchair throughout the film. It wasn’t easy. I had to learn how to manoeuvre the wheelchair, and since it was a manual, my thumb got stuck in the wheel and broke,” says the actor with a shudder.
However, Neil persevered. “Waiting was the worst for me. For a long stretch of shooting, I had to crawl on the floor using only my hands, as I play a character whose legs are not usable. It was the most exhausting thing I’ve done in my life. But it’s all been worth it. Bypass Road has turned out exactly the way my brother Naman (director) and I visualised it. It is original and it keeps audiences guessing till the end,” the actor asserts, adding that the film was shot in India because the script demanded it. “My kind producer Madan Paliwal wanted to shoot in London because we were promised subsidies, but that wasn’t what I visualised for my plot. I wanted to shoot it in Mumbai and explore the Mumbaikars’ relationship with Alibaug as a getaway for the rich and propertied, much in the same way as New Jersey is for New Yorkers.”