"Banaras" director Pankuj Parashar, who gave television viewers the very popular "Karamchand" detective serial in the 1980s, is working on another thriller series -- for television.

"I am doing a series of 26 hour-long thrillers for Sony. We start shooting on April 18. I am producing and directing. These are mini movies. They'll be slick and fast moving with rock music," Parashar told.

"My kids don't know what I did with 'Karamchand' on television. This series is for them. I am very impatient to start shooting. The TV series will have a mix of well-known TV stars and new faces."

"Naseeruddin Shah will be acting in one of the episodes. Dimple (Kapadia) will be in another... And I have got a group of 12 writers who have been at work on the project."

Parashar, who directed two very popular films "Chaalbaaz" and "Jalwa", will do a comedy feature film next. "Yes, I am back to comedy after 'Chaalbaaz'. It will be a wacky funny new kind of comedy. Very nice script but it won't be female-centric like 'Chaalbaaz'. Sridevi has gone on record to say it's her favourite film.

"I need to do comedy to unwind after 'Banaras'... Though 'Banaras' was a real joy to make. Every morning we'd be up for shooting at 5 a.m. At 6 a.m., we'd see Dimple coming down from her bath in the Ganges with sandalwood on her forehead. She did the film to be close to Ganga. She went to every temple in Varanasi. I hope her prayers have paid off."