/> Vishal Bharadwaj who has made an AIDS film on behalf of Mira Nair for the Bill Gates Foundation, has high praise for Santosh Sivam.

"Santosh's film for the same series is far superior to mine, " says the generous composer-director whose Blue Umbrella gets released today. "In fact Santosh's film is the best of the entire lot, and that includes my film along with Farhan Akhtar and Mira Nair's."

Santosh is delighted by his colleague's compliment. "Vishal has seen all the films in the series, so he's in a position to comment. That's very generous of him."

Santosh's AIDS film in Kannada entitled Prarambha brings back veteran South Indian actress B. Saroja Devi(remember Rajendra Kumar singing Teri pyari pyari surat ko to her in Sasural?) in a key role.

"There was a role in Prarambha for which she was tailormade. I just asked her if she would do it, and she readily agreed. My short-film also stars Prabhu Deva."

Sivan had the time of his life directing two such contrasting actors. A child plays a key role in Prarambha.

Sivan loves to work with children. "For Halo I altered the script to accommodate a physically impaired child because she was keen to play the part and I didn't want to break her heart."

Whether it's an AIDS victim, a cross dresser(in Nava Rasa) or a human bomb(Terrorist) Santosh Sivan is fascinated by fringe people.