/> It looks like the era of shorter films has had its day. 2007 is going to be the era of big lengthy films.

Guru, the first wannabe-epic tale of 2007 over-ran the stipulated three-hour duration....And now just two weeks later the year's second biggie Salaam-e-Ishq is ready to roll out an even lengthier tale.

At 3 hours 30 minutes, Salaam-e-Ishq is at least an hour longer than the time allotted by the multiplex culture.

Shrugs Advani, "I'm sorry if I'm not abiding by the instruction manuels of the multiplexes. For me it's more important to say what I have to than to live by marketing laws. It was important for me to make the film that I wanted to...no matter what lengths I had to go. Yes Salaam-e-Ishq is a lengthy film by today's yardsticks. It's got six different stories. So I've basically made six different films and put them together."

In fact Advani was tempted to add another half an hour of footage, so that every couple would have 30 minutes to have its say. "I plan to add extra footage to the DVD version of Salaam-e-Ishq...Am I being self-indulgent? I don't think so. I've edited the film in rapidfire motions. Salaam-e-Ishq tells the story it has to. It takes its own time. And I think audiences today are impatient with boring films not lengthy films."

While the multiplexes will grumble about reducing the number of shows per screen for Advani's film, they'll soon have to deal with Vikram Bhatt's new venture Life Mein Kabhi Kabhi which is currently touching the dreaded 4-hour playing time.

Says Vikram, "It's the story of five protagonists –Dino Morea, Aftab Shivdasani, Sammir Dattani, Anjori Alagh and Nauheed Cyrusi. Each one needs the space required to tell his or her story. After shooting, I don't know what to cut. It's easier when there's one linear plot. But with five different stories you can't edit any section without the narration looking lopsided."

It's not as though only the episodic films are casualties of excesive running-time. Many of this year's biggies including Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Saawariya, Vidhu Vinod Chopra's Eklavya, Ram Gopal Varma's Sholay and Ashutosh Gowariker's Jodha-Akbar are all expected to exceed the length that's considered ideal in recent times.

Small is no longer big in the theatres. Aditya Chopra's 4-hour long Mohabbatein was the last film to require two intermissions during its running time. Maybe that's the solution for the cafeterias in the multiplexes to make their profits during lengthier films in lieu of more shows.