bollywood celebrities

Mumbai, Feb 10 (IANS) Any actor would love to hog the limelight for a film, especially when he is just one film old and is paired opposite a leading lady who has been around for more than seven years. But Neil Nitin Mukesh doesn't mind acknowledging Bipasha Basu's towering presence in his upcoming release "Aa Dekhe Zara".

"Bipasha is a huge part of 'Aa Dekhe Zara'. In fact, I can go on to state that she is 'the story' of the film. This character of Ray Acharya that I play in the film would not have decided to do anything in life if not for her," Neil told IANS.

"Since I can't reveal much about the film's plot, all I can say is that whatever steps he takes in his intriguing journey of life, he does it for her," added Neil as he gets into an admiration mode for Bipasha who had a successful 2008 with both "Race" and "Bachna Ae Haseeno" working at the box office.

One can't help but remember his leading lady from "Johnny Gaddar" though who didn't quite have much role to play in the all-men thriller by Sriram Raghavan. Rimmi Sen was important enough to the plot of "Johnny Gaddar", but not critical enough to see much of a screen time to her credit.

One hopes that Bipasha isn't roped in director Jehangir Surti's "Aa Dekhe Zara" just for glamour quotient.

"That's definitely not the case", protested Neil, "She is not just any other leading lady in a romantic thriller. She contributes immensely to the film's graph and is simply phenomenal in the role of Simi Chatterjee."

While Bipasha plays a DJ in "Aa Dekhe Zara", Neil enacts the role of a struggling photographer.

Neil can't forget the part though that Bipasha played in "Race" and says her role in "Aa Dekhe Zara" is as crucial as "Race".

"She was mind blowing in the film. Actually, she was the best part about 'Race'. You could see that she was so pivotal to the film's narrative. Same is the case in 'Aa Dekhe Zara' as well", said Neil in admiration of his leading lady.

So are we looking at yet another negative portrayal of the lead actors in "Aa Dekhe Zara"?

"I won't say that I have a negative shade in the film. However, cliched as it may sound but the universal fact is that all of us do have grey shades. We have that element of angel and evil in us. None of us can deny this fact and if any of us says that we are all pure and white, then we are just fooling ourselves," he said.

"There are two sides to a coin. You need to flip a coin and depending upon the situation, you see one side of that coin," he added.

Also starring Rahul Dev in an important role, "Aa Dekhen Zara" is a Viki Rajani production and is presented by Eros Entertainment.

Earlier, titled "Freeze", "Aa Dekhen Zara" has music by Pritam Chakraborty and Gourov Dasgupta and is all set for a March 27 release.