Neil Nitin Mukesh grieves the loss of the legend: ‘Dharamji was the grandfather I never had’

Dharamji is the only person who filled the void of me not having met my grandfather [Mukesh] ever. This is something I mentioned to him on day one of the Johnny Gaddaar (2007) shoot. He told me an anecdote that I was not aware of it all up until then. He told me, ‘Neil, your grandfather (Mukesh) sang the first song for my first film, Dil Bhi Tera Hum Bhi Tere (1960).’ When I informed him that I had not met my grandfather, he told me, ‘Don’t ever say that again. You met your grandfather. I’m right here.’ He was the grandfather I never had.

There’s another moment I can’t forget. Dharamji’s character Sheshadri finds out that Vikram has double crossed him. There was a moment where he was supposed to slap me on screen. Unfortunately, his hand landed on my cheek. He got so upset. Now because of the slap, I naturally teared up. But when I looked at him, he had a tear in his eye. The moment the shot was done, he hugged me and said, ‘I’m sorry. I don’t know how that happened.’ I told him, ‘No! This is your aashirvaad on me’.