by Subhash K Jha

Even as Sammir Dattani's three plum assignments Madhur Bhandarkar's Corporate, Nisha Chainani's Maratthon and Mani Shankar's Mukhbir near completion, he seems to be making rapid progress with his career.

The latest acquisition on this quiet achiever's roster of roles is a plum assignment in a start-to-finish Hindi film that Rituparno Ghosh wants to make before the end of this year.

Speaking from Kolkata where he's busy with the pre-production plans of his next venture Rahgeer, Rituparno said, "Long before Sammir was signed for his current films he had met me. I was deeply stuck by his quiet and gentle personality. There's a quality of noble vulnerability to him that I wanted to tap for a character that had been playing in my mind."

It 's this quality that will emerge in the start-to-finish quickie that Ritu plans to make at the earliest. "Once I met Sammir the role concretized. And now I'm convinced only he's the right person to play it."

All the details are yet to be worked out. "They aren't important. All I know is that Sammir Dattani will play the protagonist"

Refusing to divulge details Ritu says it's the role of a boy-child who awakens to feelings of love within extremely trying circumstances. This is the first time that the seasoned Bengali director, touted as the neo-Ray, will cast a virtual newcomer in the central author-backed role.

Shooting in Hyderabad for the climax of Mukhbir, Sammir is reticent on the topic. "I've been told not to talk about the film. But yes I'm honoured to be in a Riturpano Ghosh film. When I saw Chokher Bali I had secretly vowed I'd work with him some day. I didn't know it would happen so soon."

Sammir's first release this summer is Madhur Bhandarkar's Corporate. "There I've a brief but sharp role. Then there's Maratthon where I play a physically challenged runner who participates in the Mumbai marthon."

But the one that really has the young actor keyed up is Mukhbir. "It's something that has never been done in our cinema...And now there's Ritu's film where I'm required to go into a totally unexployed territory. I guess I'm lucky."