by Subhash K Jha

Now that Heyy Babyy is a huge success, its debutant director Sajid Khan can tell the truth about its antecedents.

"People said it was Three Men & A Baby. But I don't copy films. I had done 17 drafts of Heyy Babyy before the final screenplay emerged."

Sajid drops an inventive gem about his script. "It's actually based on the wild lifestyle of a friend. In fact when he saw Heyy Babyy he threatened to sue me and said I better pay him royalty. He was part of my college gang.

He had a faithful really sweet girlfriend. But he played the field like crazy. Many times I lied to his girlfriend while he was with other women. After a while he got caught. They fought. But I acted mediator and got them married. But even after marriage he didn't stop f...k around. Then we lost contact.

Recently he called me home for his baby daughter's birthday. I had never seen such happiness in his home before. This friend told me how a baby-girl changed his life."

That's how Sajid's Baby story was born. "All the transformation, misgivings about my friend's daughter's future and joy about her present have gone into the script. When I narrated the idea to Sajid Nadiadwala he loved it.

It was a real story. But I had to treat it as a comedy because no one would have come to see it otherwise. They expected my film to be funny."

Getting gender savvy, Sajid confides, "No man at the beginning of a relationship tells the woman the truth. Intially he just wants to have fun. But the truth is,you may be far happier as a bachelor, but you are far more at peace as father."

Sajid also reveals that Heyy Babyy is structured like a Hrishikesh Mukherjee film. "I keep my storytelling and camera angles very simple, just like Hrishida. Heyy Babyy needed fast cutting and eye contact.

It didn't need fancy camera angles. When I acted in his Jhooth Bole Kauva Kaate with him I learnt a lot about the virtues of simple storytelling from him. I've tried to keep in mind audiences of every age and taste."