Though Neil Nitin Mukesh had a crucial release in Shortcut Romeo, he’s pitching in hard for Sonam Kapoor’s Ranjhanaa. Neil and Sonam have been close friends from the time they worked together in Abbas-Mustan’s pricey fiasco Players. Ever since then the two have kept close tabs on each other’s projects and make sure they watch one another’s films. There’s a healthy give-and-take of criticism from both ends. Neil feels Friday brings a new beginning for both of them. “Sonam in Raanjhanaa is completely transformed. I can see the change in her. I feel it would be like a new beginning for her. It’s like what happened to Karisma Kapoor after Raja Hindustani or Shabana Azmi in Arth.” Neil himself feels a similar change as an actor as he watches himself in Shortcut Romeo. “Believe me, I’ve never worked so hard. Because the director Susi Ganesan is completely new to Hindi cinema and Bollywood I was virtually the one-point stopover for the entire project in Mumbai.” Neil says he served as the hero, the chief assistant, the production co-ordinator and the spotboy on this one. “My involvement with Shortcut Romeo was so deep that I forgot where the actor was left behind and the all-purpose project co-ordinator took over. Susi is completely alien to Bollywood. I had to lead him through the entire project. But I enjoyed every bit of it.” Neil is confident of Shortcut Romeo in spite of competition from his friend’s film. “I know Raanjhanaa is a big one. Everyone wants to see the love story between Sonam and Dhanush. So do I. But we are advantaged by our budget. Raanjhanaa is a Rs.30-35 crore project. We completed Shortcut Romeo within 15 crores although we shot in some of the most exotic spots of the world.” Neil is all for Raanjhanaa. But he is confident of his own film. “Shortcut Romeo was a huge success in Tamil. And we’ve gone many steps ahead of the Tamil original Thiruttu Payale in terms of treatment and execution.”