/> Sanjay Bhansali's critical comment on Kunal Kohli and his film Fanaa on Koffee With Karan on Sunday night seems to have got him a lot of credit for honesty.

Says a leading young filmmaker, "Hats off to Bhansali for calling a spade a spade. The man has been shooting his mouth off about a lot of filmmakers. About time someone pointed out his true worth to Mr Kohli."

Sanjay in the thick of shooting an important song sequence for Sawariya brushes off the issue. "I said what I felt about him and his film, as he has been saying about me and my work. Having said that, let me point out that the questions on Kunal Kohli were in the rapidfire segment of Karan's show.

The way questions and answers are posed and edited in that section, you end up talking in a way that seems rash and rude. When Gurinder Chaddha and Farah Khan came on Karan's show they said I was an over-rated filmmaker.

Shobha De had called me neurotic. I didn't raise a hue and cry over it. However I stand by what I said. According to me, Fanaa is not a good film. I also said Karan's own Kabhi Alvidaa Na Kehna could've been better."

Sanjay feels much is being made out of nothing. "Even Kunal had said he didn't like Black. I respect his opinion. When he made a list of Mr Bachchan's 10 best films for a TV show, he didn't mention Black. I was okay with that. Fanaa would certainly not figure in my list of favourite films.

We all have our preferences. I worship Lataji's voice, Kunal may prefer Ashaji. Why make such a hue and cry about it? Comments on Koffee With Karan cannot be taken seriously. It's all meant to be light-hearted and chatty."

He takes a deep breath, "All us filmmakers have our genres and tastes. The Anurag Kashyap group of filmmakers may not think much of my cinema. That doesn't mean my cinema is less relevant than theirs, or vice versa. In our cinema there's enough space for all kinds of genres in our cinema."

As for Sanjay Bhansali agreeing to be on the show with Mallika Sherawat, the director shoots back, "Why not? There's no no big or small players in the industry. To me Mallika is as important as any other actress whom I've interacted with.

Besides I could never question Karan about whom he's putting me with or whom he'd call first during recording. It was his choice. And Karan is too dear a friend for me to argue over his choices."