by Subhash K Jha

Anil Kapoor has taken a shine to Mallika Sherawat after working with her in Darna Zaroori Hai. "She's hard-working focused and fun to work with," Anil had told me. "I love her guts and her honesty."

Looks like Mr Kapoor will have lots more opportunities to get to know Ms Sherawat better. After the 'grief' encounter in one segment of Ram Gopal Varma's Darna Zaroori Hai the two are being paired together in Abbas-Mustan's untitled film for Tips to be shot in Australia in one schedule from September to November.

The special thing about this project is the untried pairing. Saif teams up with Bipasha for the first time, and so do Fardeen with Katrina. Anil and Mallika have done a brief bit. But that's it.

Abbas-Mustan are constantly trying new permutations in their suspense format. "What can we do if producers only approach us to make thrillers?" laughs Abbas. "We tried something different in Tarzan The Wonder Car. And gave up.

We're happy with our niche. Other directors make family films or comedies. We're known for our suspense thrillers. Even our new release 36 Chinatown is a suspense whodunit.

When we had made our first thriller Khiladi there wasn't such an active media machinery to give the suspense away. Now everyone knows who the killer is. So in Chinatown we've added loads of humour to the whodunit to sustain audiences' interests. Everyone except Akshaye Khanna –who plays the investigating officer— has humorous moments."

Abbas and Mustan are the most champions of softspoken sophisticated suspense thrillers. Abbas-Mustan who're on the verge of releasing their new whodunit 36 Chinatown and are heading out to London for a 90-day schedule with Bipasha, Ajay Devgan and Sanjay Dutt to film what Abbas calls a humorous adventure thriller.

"We weren't here when the film is released," says Abbas. "But we're sure the audiences are very happy with 36 Chinatown. There's an interesting story to how we got the title. You know, all the Chinatowns the world over have their own geographical and culture boundaries.

Likewise we wanted to create a world within one area and give it a number, like a residence. The set we created has a casino, a dance area, roads...everything. Most of the film was shot there."

Abbas raves about his stars and his producer. "This is our third film with Kareena and second with Akshaye Khanna. They both agreed immediately. Shahid Kapoor—we had liked him in his first film Ishq Vishq and had decided we'd work with them anytime something suitable came up. 36 Chinatown has an ideal role for Shahid.

The fact that Kareena and Shahid hadn't clicked in Fida didn't bother us. Every story has its own rhythms and requirements. It's up to the directors how they use the stars. As for Upen Patel...we first met him at a Tsunami relief fund event. The film requires him to play a playboy. He fits the bill."

Special words are reserved for producer Subhash Ghai. "The fact that he's a producer and director helps him understand the workings of a film far better than anyone else. Subhashji isn't the least interfering.

In both Aitraaz and 36 Chinatown he let us do exactly what we wanted. But he was always there to help us. We're now working on another script for Subhashji to produce. The film will go on the floors as soon as we write it."

And now to kill the suspense. Is 36 Chinatown an original work for a change? "I can't say. Our writer Shyam Goel says it's inspired by a novel," confesses the honest Abbas who says he and his brother never take holidays. "Why should we when we have so much fun making films? Every film is a vacation for us."