She has never been taken seriously not just by her male costars who treat her like "one of us" or the female actors, who get along famously with her -thanks to her bindaas nature. Even most of her directors feel that she is good for the routine song-and-dance formula in films. We are talking about Rani Mukhrejee who, ever since has carried her second lead in KKHH with élan, hasn`t graduated to doing anything better other than the glamourous roles she had been saddled with.

But good buddy and director Karan Johar feels otherwise, "Rani has great potential which needs to be exploited by directors," says the two-film-old director who has earned himself the rare distinction of getting categorised along with hit film makers in a very short span. He himself has been accused of giving her a raw deal in both the films he has directed her in. But the director is keen on making up for his undoing in the past. The grapevine is abuzz with stories of Karan penning a script "especially for her," in which she is likely to have a mature role. But as long his other great buddy, Rani`s cousin Kajol, figures prominently in the starcast, can he keep his word?

Rani hasn`t signed any film in the past six months and really looking for great subjects to arouse her interest. And a Karan Johar film obviously is too big a banner to resist? Will she bite the bait once again?