Raksha Mistry who co-directed The Killer with Hasnain Hyderabadwala, talks to Subhash K Jha...

Q: Abbas-Mustan notwithstanding, two different individuals specially a man and a woman, cannot really be creatively collaborative together.
A: I disagree with you completely. Didn't we have Vinay Sapru and Radhika Rao teaming up to direct Lucky ? My love for cinema comes from my close association with Dharmesh Darshan and Rakesh Roshan—I was the associate director in Koi...Mil Gaya and Krissh. I've also done a lot of pre-production for Mahesh Bhatt.

I know my co-director Hasnain from the time he was assisting Dharmesh in Raja Hindustani. We've been best friends from then on. We've written several scripts together. We both directed every single frame of The Killer together.

The fact that I'm one of the boys, helped. I love action films. We wanted to do something wacky. Of course we had differences on the sets. Bhatt Saab encourages creative conflict.

Q: Your film is ripped straight off from Michael Mann's Collateral.
A: Just the basic skeleton. We concentrated on the basic chemistry between Imran and Irrfan which wasn't there in the original. The tone and climax are different. We don't deny being inspired by Collateral.

But we haven't ripped off the original. And much as we'd like to do something original next we're again doing another Hollywood adaptation. Hasnain and I are going to collaborate on all future projects.

Q: The Killer didn't open well. The dark mood wasn't what audiences were looking for after the blasts?
A: It did open below expectations. But over the weekend the collections improved. I think trade circles feel one-night films don't work. But we did keep the clap-track in mind, hence the massy songs and dialogues. I watched the film with the masses. They love it. You've to remember eighty percent of the audience hasn't seen Collateral

Q: Being a woman you've given the leading lady Nisha Kothari a raw deal.
A: The storytelling didn't allow her more space. We put her wherever we could ...in songs mainly. We didn't want to push her into the narration. I agree Nisha got a raw deal. But she was aware of her role from the start. I don't relate to the characters as a woman but as a director.

Q: Finally Emraan disappoints audiences by not kissing the girl.
A: There were lots of arguments about the kiss between Mr Mahesh Bhatt and Emraan Hashmi. Mr Bhatt wanted the kiss, Emraan didn't. Emraan is getting married in four month and doesn't want trouble at home.

Let's be fair to him. The screenplay didn't require a kiss. And we didn't want to put it to please the audience. So we sided with Emraan. Nisha also wanted to avoid the kiss.

Emraan is in our next action thriller which Shyam Bajaj is producing. Hopefully there'll be a room for a kiss.

Q: Strange she has no qualms about wearing the bare minimum. But is shy of a kiss!
A: That's Indian actresses for you.