/> Kunal Kohli: "I've worked with some of the most intelligent actors in this industry from Hrithik and Kareena in Mujhse Dosti Karoge, Saif and Rani in Hum Tum and Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic, Aamir, Kajol and Tabu in Fanaa.

It's very different to apply any uniform yardstick of intelligence to all these wonderful actors....I've always been an Aamir fan even when I was a journalist. When I finally got a chance to direct him I was able to bring Aamir together with an actress he had never been paired with.

Kajol and Aamir are supposed to be such different actors. But it's just a myth that Aamir likes to over-rehearse and do multiple takes. In fact he dislikes too many takes and would prefer to go with the first take.

He brings to the table a kind of intelligence that makes a film qualititatively superior with every passing moment. I've been asked why he played the initial part of Fanaa as the tourist guide so over-the-top. But Aamir had a reason for it.

He was playing a terrorist pretending to be a tourist guide, so it had to be a slightly over-done performance. Aamir has the wrongly-earned reputation of taking himself too seriously. We had a ball shooting Fanaa."

Rakeysh Mehra: "I'm still too new.I've worked with the most intelligent actors in this country like Amitabh Bachchan, Om Puri and Aamir Khan.

Right now I feel very special because I've someone like Waheeda Rehman on the sets. Waheedaji is too too special. For me to differentiate among the intelligence of all these wonderful actors would be presumptuous. My journey has been too short.

After I put together a larger perspective maybe I can comment better. They're all super-accomplished. I'm not being diplomatic. I'm as nervous directing Abhishek today in Delhi 6 as I was when I directed his father in Aks.

The anxiety doesn't get diminished with experience. I'd say every actor from Raveena Tandon to Sonam Kapoor has added to my leaning curve. I'm always learning from amy actors. Delhi 6 has a huge number of very talented actors."

Sanjay Leela Bhansali: "It would have to be Mr Bachchan. He brings decades of his experience on the table. And yet he never allows it to show in his performances.

When I was doing Black with him on many occasions he would be able to understand a scene fully even before I had explained it, and then he 'd take it much further than where I thought it would go.

The hallmark of a truly intelligent actor is that he never allows the baggage of his wisdom and experience to weigh down his performance. Amitji can interpret a scene in a hundred ways. But finally he knows which is the best way to deal with a moment.

As a director I've worked with many kinds of actors, spontaneous and studied. Amitji studies a scene minutely and then interprets it spontaneously. The way he would show sudden fits of absolute forgetfulness as an alzheimers patient in Black still gives me goosebumps.

How did he know how it feels to suddenly forget everything about yourself?I'd give anything to work with him again. But I can't be greedy. I can't cast him in any role that is less challenging than Black. "

Sudhir Mishra: 'It's very hard to single out any one actor. Anil Kapoor, Om Puri and Shabana Azmi were all highly intelligent. Kareena Kapoor has an instinctive intelligence. Shabana seeks out a context to every part.

She understands a part cerebrally and then gets emotionally attached to it. Chitrangada is stunning. On the first day of shooting I was talking to her a like a child. On the last day I spoke to as though she was Naseer.

Naseeruddin Shah is the most fantastically intelligent actor I've worked with. And he doesn't let the preparation show on screen. He never calls attention to himself on screen. He was in my first film Yeh WohManzil To Nahin. Earlier I worked with him in films where I was an assistant director.

Everything I know about acting came from watching him in front of the camera. And if actors say I work well with them it's because I learnt the one truth about actors from him. Naseer taught me there's no generic rule for acting. Every actor is different.You need to hit the right notes.

Currently KK continues to be a surprise. A lot of people say things about Shiney Ahuja. But he's very focused with me. Does commercial success spoil actors? It didn't spoil Aamir or Saif.

Saif works with a very rare intelligence. He creates characters without fuss. I generated a lot of hullaballo when I gave him the National award for Hum Tum. Earlier he was getting awards for best comedian, etc.

There're so many super-intelligent actors. Mr Bachchan, Hrithik and Shah Rukh Khan know exactly what they're doing. Mr Bachchan can make the most stupid scene look convincing. Sadly many brilliant actors choose stardom above talent."

Vipul Shah: "I've worked with two major actors Mr Bachchan and Akshay Kumar. No one has the creative intelligence of Mr Bachchan. He keeps things very simple while shooting. I

'll be the heart, you be the brain, he says on the sets. He takes instruction carefully then adds subtle tones to it. He doesn't consider what the audience would think of a scene. He does it the way it ought to be done.

In that sense he's a bit of a purist. But as for knowing what would work with the audience there's no one to beat Akshay. Big films that he said won't work, didn't. Akshay knows when something is missing a scene.

At the last minute he'll do something to make the scene more interesting. He can actually see the audience reacting to a scene while shooting it. When we were shooting Namaste London in Punjab he suddenly came up with the idea of wearing sunglasses in his own house.

When I questioned him on it he said it was because his character wanted to impress the girl. He has great understanding of commercial cinema. He's very conscious of the audience.

As for my wife Shefali Shah she transforms before camera. What she does at rehearsals and for the final take is very different. She applies another kind of intelligence to her characters quite different from Amitji and Akshay.