Just a few days back, we broke it to you with a heavy heart that the smooch queen, Mallika Sherawt, is finally out of Bhatt camp after nephew, Emraan Hashmi, played spoilsport. Her fault?

Mallika blurred the line that was drawn to promote the movie successfully.

According to Bhatt, "Keeping Mallika at the forefront was our promotional strategy. It went fine till the release and the rest of the cast took a backseat. But once the strategy proved fruitful, Mallika forgot it was just a strategy and nothing else. She got confused between strategy and reality. Filmmaking is about teamwork."

Though a complete maverick by his own admission, when it comes to family, blood is definitely thicker for this veteran director.

Does that mean the fall of Sherawat who've just tasted her first success?

"Perhaps no," says Pooja Bhatt, another young turk in the family. Apart from acting in the movies, Pooja created ripples at the box office when she gave India her first 'Yes-I-Need-Sex' heroine, Bipasha Basu.

Pooja is mulling over her next project called 'Cabaret' and according to her no one fits the bill like Mallika.

"Yes, I am considering Mallika for 'Cabaret'. We will be meeting this week," says Pooja. "I need an actress who is feisty, sexy, attractive, a good dancer, who believes in her own convictions and yet very vulnerable. What I liked was when Mallika read the first draft of Cabaret she called me up and said she would love to act in it. "

Does daddy know about her intentions?

"I find this whole business of Emraan and Mallika very funny! Moreover, I can work with anyone. Mallika has not been obnoxious to either Mahesh or Mukesh Bhatt. If she had been, let me make it very clear there wouldn't have been any question of my working with her," she declares.