by Subhash K Jha

"Let me tell you a story," Sajid Khan settles down to narrate how he turned director. "Long back Ram Gopal Varma wanted me to make a comedy with me in the lead on the lines of Naked Gun, etc. I said it won't work. Ramu didn't care. He thought I had a fan following for my kind of humour. That didn't happen.

Then he wanted me to act on Darna Zaroori Hai. When we met he started chatting. When it comes to movies Ramu is ultra-passionate. I narrated him a horror story that I had heard in school. As I told it to him I began to improvise—you know how good I am at that."

Sajid chuckles. "Ramu loved the story. He wanted me to direct it. I agreed though I had never assisted any filmmaker. I guess neither had Ramu...so he knows all it takes is a love for the movies to direct a film."

Sajid completed his segment of Darna Zaroori Hai in four days. "I chose a relatively unknown actor Manoj Pahwa because he was perfect. The whole film is a monologue. There's only one character. It's about a guy who doesn't get scared....until one night he crosses through graveyard."

Now Sajid is waiting for the verdict. "I kick-started Darna Zaroori Hai. Mine was the first story. Then the film was on hold for a long time. I didn't know there were going to be six other directors. Now that I know, I still don't feel any sense of competition.It was a good experience. I had a great team. They kept correcting me. It's very important to learn on the job."

Next he goes into the big one Hey Baby for producer Sajid Nadiadwala. "It's not a film about the baby," he says evasively. "I don't want to rush through my screenplay. Everyday I want to make it better.

And Sajid Nadiadwala is such a producer. If you tell him you want to shoot in Hong Kong he'll offer to take your unit to the Great Wall Of China. My father was a producer. So I know how producers cut corners."

Hey Baby has an impressive starcast—Akshay Kumar, Vidya Balan, Fardeen Khan, Riteish Deshmukh. "You've to have stars to get audiences into theatres. I hope Darna Zaroori Hai takes a good initial. Believe me, my future as a director doesn't depend on how Darna Zaroori Hai is received by the audience.

If critics like my segment well and fine. Otherwise, no sweat. You know there was a move to BAN critics in Bollywood recently. Can you believe it? How can movies be made without people judging it. How can you have a beauty contest without judges?"

Sajid says he'd love to do his story in Darna Zarrori Hai all over again. "So many changes I'd like to make....Ramu didn't come for even one minute for those four days. I told him not to. If he did the press would say he directed it.

He believed in me. He knew the story was good. It couldn't go wrong....like Vipul Shah's Waqt. The story couldn't be messed up. Or Titanic...even if the ship was smaller it would've created history."