by Subhash K Jha

What's happening to Bollywood? Comic over-kill seems to be the magic mantra of the moment.

After Masti (which actually triggered off the current comic wave) Indra Kumar completed Pyare Mohan with Vivek Oberoi and Fardeen Khan. It flopped.

Next Indra K teams up again with his Masti hero Riteish for Dhamaal. "It would be my fourth comedy in a row. In Masti I played a total duffer. In Kya Kool Hain Hum I was extra-savvy. Now in Dhamaal I hope to be mean-comic. A real glint-in-the-eye kind of funny is what I want to play," says the exhausted Riteish.

Dhamaal will also star Sanjay Dutt.

Riteish cheers up at the mention of his favourite release Bluff Master.

"It was very slick but not at the cost of losing out on the non-metro audience. Abhishek was supposed to do my role. Then he stepped into the other role. I had to opt out of a project to accommodate Bluff Master. But it was worth it. Rohan Sippy is a director I wanted to work with. And Abhishek is a cool co-star.

I thoroughly enjoyed working with him in Naach.We had loads of fun in Bluff Master...though it isn't a comedy. I keep telling everyone my romantic lead in Bluff Master was Abhishek."

Bluff Master isn't a comedy. But everyone is in a comic frame of mind these days. "I guess it's the mood of the moment," Riteish concedes. "In fact my next release Apna Sapna Money Money Money is again a comedy.

This time Sangeeth Sivan isn't doing anything risqué. I admit I was a trifle uncomfortable saying some of the lines in Masti and Kya Kool Hain Hum. But in Money Money Money there's nothing to make me squirm."

For now Riteish seems to be caught in the comic swamp. "But I've done a very serious segment of Ram Gopal Varma's Darna Zaroori Hai with Mr Bachchan. I was so nervous.

According to the script he was supposed to shout so hard at me that I was doubly shaken.But guess what? My character actually got to shout back at him!"

Riteish is happy enough with his progress report. "I started with a South remake, the college romance Tujhe Meri Kasam which was a blockbuster in Bihar. But in Mumbai you're only as successful as your boxoffice collections in the city. I had to start from scratch. I think I've created a small niche for myself."