/> The verdict on Rahul Rawail's black comedy Buddha Mar Gaya released this week is rather discouraging.

"I'm not making any apologies about the raunchy mood of the film, " Rahul says a day after the film's release. "It was meant to be a sex comedy, and it is exactly that.

Why are we so squeamish about sexual innuendoes in our films when we have no objection to sex jokes in the American Pie movies? I enjoy watching American Pie and wanted to do something similar in Hindi. And that's exactly what I've done."

A lot of people are offended by the risqué and ribald quality of the gags, including a bi-sexual godman (played by Om Puri) who has sex with a dead tycoon's sister and his son.

Rahul ripostes quickly, "Let me tell you, every character in Buddha Mar Gaya is based on real people. Don't let me open my mouth about who's who and what goes in these super-rich families.

I wanted to do a savage satire on the hypocrisies of the affluent. And I think I've done that. If people are offended by the blunt quality of the humour, let me remind them that this is an adult sex -comedy passed by the censors with an 'A' certificate.

I'm quite satisfied with what I set out to do, and with my cast. By all means critics are free to dislike the film. But when some reviewers have criticized my actors I totally disagree with them.

My actors have gone completely with the requirements of the script."

Buddha Mar Gaya is now behind Rahul. He's now planning two hardhitting films which would take him back to the gritty action-genre of Arjun and Dacait.

"The first script will be a an indigenous rendering of Sidnely Lumet's 12 Angry Men about a jury trying five encounter cops. The second film will be set in the Gujarat riots. I want to show that communal riots are planned events, like any wedding or funeral. I'm in the process of scripting these two films."

So Rahul Rawail will be back in form?

"Like I said Buddha Mar Gaya is as much part of my creativity as the films of mine that you like, " says Rahul.