The actor has written three scripts, the first film will roll this year

After a three-year hiatus, Kunal Kapoor returned to the screen last month withKaun Kitney Paani Mein, a futuristic drama set in a village in Odisha where water is the new currency. The 37-year-old actor shed 10 kgs to play Prince Yuvraj but couldn't assure the film a long box-office reign.

Prod him on his self-imposed exile and he reveals that it was the absence of great stories and a personal tragedy that brought it on."I was not getting interesting roles, the kind I wanted to be a part of. Then, last year, my dad went for his regular health check-up and discovered that he was terminally ill, with only five-six months to live," Kunal reminisces. "It was strange. I spent every minute with him, right upto the last moments."

After two decades in B-town, Kunal is planning to move forward with a script of his own. "I have finalised three scripts. I will not be directing or producing any of them, but I will act in the first film, which should roll this year," he reveals.

They are all dramas set in a different cinematic space, the kind of stories he has always wanted to tell. "I am a Mumbai boy, born and brought up in Juhu. I had a myopic view of the world. My first script gave me a chance to look at the world through new eyes," says Kunal, who was an AD for Rakeysh Mehra, before he was cast inRang De Basanti.

Will he rope in buddies, Hrithik Roshan, Abhishek Bachchan or Imran Khan for the film? "It's seductive to piggyback on other's success but I've come this far without anybody's support. I have a clear vision for myself as an actor and I'll get to where I want to be, it's only a matter of time," he shrugs.

Wife Naina, whom he married in Seychelles, in February is his sounding board. "I got really lucky with Naina, she's smart, gorgeous and my superwoman. I've grown so much, since I first met her, six years ago. I never thought I'd get married, until I met her," he admits