I don’t like scrawny girls: Neil Nitin Mukhesh

Sandwiches, I want those sandwiches. I asked for them like some three hours ago," muttersNeil Nitin Mukesh, peering intently into his laptop.

The man is clearly hungry. But obviously, whatever he is doing on his laptop is enough to keep his mind occupied, at least, till the sandwiches arrive. We peer over his shoulders to see what he's doing. It's a picture of his. A good shot; the work of a professional. We cannot help but admire. "By me," says Nitin. Huh? "This was shot by me. A self portrait of sorts," he explains. And as if to prove the point, he goes into the intricacies of how it was shot. "It's a single light, low exposure shot. I was just getting the post-shoot effects right on my laptop. That's important for a picture like this."

Yeah, we get the point. He shot it. "No, I am not joking," he says, and looks earnest. "And what's more, I will share this pic with you, and you can print it," he adds. So, he's tech savvy? "Yes, and I am a photographer, too. I am serious about it."

While talking about his character in " Players", in which he played a hacker, he stresses on the fact that he was an "unethical hacker" in the film. Why the stress on the 'ethical' bit? "Personally, I don't believe in hacking. I respect everyone's privacy, and would like my private stuff to be mine. Yes, I agree, sometimes it is good for the nation to know about people with nasty intentions, but on an individual level, hacking is bad." We'd heard someone had hacked into his Twitter account recently. A reality, or a gimmick for the film? "Reality. And the hacker was posting all sort of semi-porn stuff from my handle. And I had people calling me and asking why I was doing it. I went hoarse telling everyone it wasn't me. Thankfully, now I have a verified account, so that's some solace."

But that incident hasn't put him off the social networking sites? "Not at all. I am a very real person. I like sharing things about my work and what I am doing. If I am upset, or sad or happy, I can share all that. Or if I am at home, faffing about, I would tell people I am not working, or I am doing nothing. That's me. Plain and simple." He pauses for a second, and takes his eyes off the screen. Finally, we've caught his eye! Nah! It's those sandwiches. They've arrived, and he unwraps them, gets hold of the sauce... and there! We can almost sense his bliss as he chews on a bite.

Not into dieting, obviously. "I work out, live healthy. I don't like scrawny girls, I like healthywomen," is his answer to the fitness question.

About his current work situation, he says, "I am working on "Shortcut Romeo", which is a remake of the South film "Thirutu Payyale"."

So, he too is on the remake bandwagon now? "Well, I liked the story a lot, and also the way the director, Susi Ganeshan wants to handle the film. So, I took it on."

He takes the last bite of the sandwich in his hand, and we leave him looking longingly at the other half in the wrap.