A Potpourri of Vestiges Feature
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| Nalneesh Neel in III Smoking Barrels, which is currently streaming on Netflix |
Actor Nalneesh Neel has been
going from a position of strength to strength over the last couple of years as his hard work has finally started to pay its dividend. In Kamakhya Narayan Singh’s Bhor,
which was selected for the Indian Panorama Section of the 49th International
Film Festival of India, he plays the pivotal role of a man belonging to the
poverty-stricken Musahar community known for feeding on rats for survival. In Sanjib
Dey’s III Smoking Barrels, which was touted as the biggest film to come out of
the northeast last year, he plays a mute elephant poacher. The film is currently streaming on Netflix. In Nitesh Tiwari’s
Chhichhore, slated to release this week, Nalneesh has a short but memorable role.
Being an industry outsider, breaking into Bollywood wasn’t
easy for Nalneesh Neel. It was a long struggle that started while growing up in
the Pilibhit district of Uttar Pradesh. Even as a child he would regularly
watch Bollywood films on VCRs and imitate famous dialogues and dance moves. The
passion gradually grew stronger and he finally decided to leave for the nearby
district of Shahjahanpur one night. All he knew was that Rajpal Yadav hailed
from Shahjahanpur and that the place had a strong local theatre unlike his own
town.
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| Nalneesh Neel in Bhor |
In Shahjahanpur, his formal
training started under Dilip Anand who also trained Rajpal Yadav. He subsequently
applied to Lucknow’s Bhartendu Natya Academy. After graduating from the
academy, he decided to leave for Mumbai and that’s when his real struggle began.
Many casting directors taunted him for his dark complexion. Even television roles
weren’t readily available. After a long struggle, he got a small role in Ata
Pata Laapata. Since he was one of 175 actors in the film there was no question
of making his presence felt. He then played inconsequential roles in a slew of
films such as Kya Super Kool Hain Hum, Shooter, and Manjunath, among others. His
first major break came in form of Shuddh Desi Romance. It was followed by Raees
and Fukrey Returns. While the roles were small in all these films, Nalneesh was
finally getting some visibility in B-Town with casting directors finally taking
a note of his acting talents.
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| Nalneesh Neel at the trailer launch of III Smoking Barrels in Guwahati |
That’s how he got to play important
parts in short films like Acche Din (it was the 1st runner-up at the
2017 Mumbai Film Festival), Umeed, and The Foreigner. The positive buzz created
by Nalneesh’s performances in these shorts helped him get substantial roles in
films like Bhor and III Smoking Barrels. He is next star to star in Shoojit
Sircar’s Gulabo Sitabo, alongside Amitabh Bachchan and Ayushmann Khurrana.
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