The queen of 'Saas-Bahu' sagas, Ektaa Kapoor will now co-produce a film exploring the emotional side of 'Gabbar Singh', the charismatic villain of Bollywood's biggest hit, 'Sholay'.

The film will be made under the banner of Balaji Telefilms and director Mahesh Pande's Siddhivinayak Media Entertainment.

Explaining the theme of his movie, Mahesh said, ''Ramesh Sippy's 'Sholay' was based on the point of view of 'Thakur' played by Sanjeev Kumar. My film is based on the point of view of 'Gabbar Singh'. How did he become a dacoit? What were his circumstances?

Despite being the villain, Gabbar actually went on to become the hero of the film. We will explore his emotional side.'' Regarding the choice of the actor who will portray the character of 'Gabbar Singh', Mahesh said, ''I have a person in mind, but I am yet to approach him. I don't know if he will agree to play 'Gabbar'.

When I introduce him to you , you might be taken aback for a minute.'' ''I am also on the lookout for 'Basanti'. In my movie there will be characters akin to Sholay's Jai, Veeru, Basanti, Sambha, Kaalia and Mausi'' he added.

''I wanted to shoot my film where the original was shot. But the place is not the same anymore. So I have found another place, Benaras, which I found to be,'' he said yesterday.

''I will not interfere with the original 'Gabbar'. My 'Gabbar' is different from him. Even my characters Jai and Veeru which were originally played by Amitabh and Dharamendra are not hired by Thakur. In my film the image is different and the characterizations are different. The film will start on Gabbar and finish on Gabbar,'' he explained.

''When Ektaa heard about the concept of my 'Gabbar Singh' she was interested and agreed to do the film,'' he informed.

Interestingly, Mahesh says that 'Gabbar Singh' will be his last Bhojpuri directorial venture.

As he himself puts it, ''Perhaps after 'Gabbar' I might not be able to direct a film better than this.''