By Subhash K. Jha
Mumbai, Aug 12 (IANS) When it comes to lovemaking scenes, Neil Nitin Mukesh has still a long way to go. He was apparently not so comfortable while filming an intimate scene with Priyanka Chopra in “Saat Khoon Maaf” in Coorg, Karnataka, last month.

During the filming of the scene, Priyanka had to put all her acting skills into action to get the shy Neil to perform on a par. Apparently there are seven such sequences for the actress with her seven screen husbands.

Thorough professional that she is, Priyanka sailed through the love scenes with her other screen husbands. With Neil, however, there was apparently some awkwardness and much re-takes before, much to Neil’s relief, the shot was okayed.

Neil doesn’t deny the absence of an adequate comfort level.

“But that’s because I hardly got to know her before working with her in Coorg. It was like… in and out. We didn’t get to know one another at all.I hardly had time to reach Coorg before we started shooting. There was no time for proper rehearsals” said Neil.

Based on Ruskin Bond’s story “Susanna’s Seven”, “Saat Khoon Maaf” is about a femme fatale who bumps off her seven spouses and Priyanka plays that role with seven male actors including Naseeruddin Shah, Irrfan Khan and Neil.

Having said that, Neil is all praise for Priyanka and director Vishal Bharadwaj.

“She is amazing on camera. I just loved watching her give her shots. As for Vishal Bharadwaj, just being directed by him is a learning experience,” he said.

Coming back to the love scene in “Saat Khoon Maaf”, Neil protests: “It isn’t as if I was camera shy. I just didn’t get enough time to get comfortable. I’ve done a love-making scene earlier with Rimi Sen in my first film ‘Johnny Gaddar’.”

Talking about his chemistry with Deepika Padukone during the shooting of “Lafangey Parindey”, Neil said: “Oh, with Deepika it was different. It was just the two of us. We had ample time to know one another before we faced the camera. In ‘Saat Khoon Maaf’, I am just one of the seven men in Priyanka’s life. It was almost like ‘Aadmi musafir hai, aata hai jaata hai’.”