Neil goes ga-ga over Bipasha

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 Dekhen Zara.

"Bipasha is a huge part of Aa Dekhen 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 said.

"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 his admiration for Bipasha, who had a successful 2008 with both Race and Bachna Ae Haseeno, becomes evident.

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

One hopes that Bipasha hasn't been roped in by director Jehangir Surti for Aa Dekhen 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 Dekhen Zara, Neil enacts the role of a struggling photographer.

"She was mind blowing in Race. Actually, she was the best thing about Race. You could see that she was so pivotal to the film's narrative. Same is the case in Aa Dekhen Zara as well", said Neil.

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