Just surfacing from an attack of viral flu, Amitabh Bachchan is now fending off criticism about his run of flops at the box office.

"Please don't blame me for the failure of recent films. I was only one of the actors in some of these films. Hum Kaun Hai, for instance, isn't my film. I was asked to do a three-day guest appearance by producer Tito with whom I've been associated for very long. I didn't even hear the script. I just did it for old times' sake.

And then when I arrived on location they said it was in Bengali as well as Hindi. So we had to do two takes for every shot. Things like this upset me. But now I'm learning to say no. No more films to oblige people..."

Bachchan wonders if it's fair "for people to blame the whole film's failure" on him.

"Shah Rukh Khan did a much larger guest appearance in Shakti. No discredit went to him. Okay, so I've a guest role in Yash Chopra's Veer-Zaara. Please treat that as my film and give me all the credit when it gets a huge opening."

Other Bachchan films not to make the grade were Deewaar, Kyun! Ho Gaya Na... and Lakshya. But were all these releases the right career choice? "I had commitments.

There were emotional reasons for doing some of these films. Money is certainly not the criteria for doing all the assignments. They were done — fine. But now I'm going to be careful.

Now I've got practically nothing. I've finished the dubbing for Anil Sharma's Ab Tumhare Hawale Watan Saathiyon and then there's just Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Black and Ram Gopal Varma's Sarkar. From now on I need to choose directors who I think will do more justice to me."

He cheers up at the mention of Sarkar. "I worked with Ramu and my son Abhishek for the first time. It was a pleasant experience."

For the moment though Bachchan has stopped signing new films. "I'm seriously considering only one script which ad-maker Balki wants to make. Sunil Manchanda of MAD Films wants to produce it. Otherwise no more compromises for me."