/> This was meant to be the mother of all international collaborations .The auteur director Jennifer Lynch directing Mallika Sherawat in a film about a snake-woman delving deep into the Indian myth of the naag-devta.

Instead Hiss has turned into sleazy cheesy semi-porn trash caressing the leading lady's unclothed skin in lurid creepy detail.

The distinguished British director David Lynch's daughter Jennifer Lynch who directed Boxing Helena about a man who imprisons his beautiful accident victim in a box after amputating her arms and legs seems to have made an even quirkier film with Mallika Sherawat as a snake-woman.

It now turns out Lynch left the project and India before editing the material. The first clear indication of the director's disappearance from the project was at the Cannes Film Festival where Mallika Sherawat and her producers put up a stall selling Hisss to the public.

Said a source close to the project, "What Jennifer shot is very different from what we finally see in Hisss. The editing makes all the difference to the final product."

Apparently the film's co-producer Govind Menon who has directed a couple of duds with Sherawat in the lead (Khwahish and Kis Kis Ki Kismat) put together the material that we finally see in Hisss.

When contacted the shocked and disbelieving de facto director of Hisss Jennifer Lynch opened up on the sensitive subject and said, "Hisss was taken from me in the edit. I have no idea what the film looks like, sounds like or conveys. My heart is broken."

Jennifer had an entirely different plan for Hisss. "I came close to a directors' cut which Mallika and Venus and producers (Govind Menon and Vikram Singh) referred to as 'European, languid and sensual'. All the things I thought were compliments. Apparently that was not what would make them happy."

The director whose last film The Secret Diary Of Laura Palmer was well-received at the boxoffice had set out to make a homage to her favourite Indian film Mother India.

"I shot the footage, adored and respected the legend (of the snake), the actors and the crew, all the while feeling seriously blessed to be in India. I am sorry the final product falls short. I have no idea what is out there, and good or bad I cannot take credit for any of it. Aside from shots and performances which I pray have not been butchered."

That they have been butchered is a detail I spare the gentle director.

Continues Jennifer, "I wrote and shot a love story. A legend. They took the songs out, they wanted more horror. I didn't make that film. Hundreds of people put their trust in me, and now...Well, I sit here with the thought of letting them down, and not even knowing how."

When told that the film is unworthy of her Jennifer rues, "I am sorry you did not see what you wanted. I wish I could say I stand by it.But even I don't know what it is. I can however, assure you that no one who participated in this film gave any less than all they had. The Gods must know something we don't.I haven't seen the footage or any post production, in any form."

Jennifer hopes to return to India, this time to make a film she really wants to. "I still hold Mother India as one of the best things in my life. I only hope and pray that India does not see what the producers and Venus have done, and think this is how I feel, or saw the legend (of the snake). My name is all over it. I can do nothing. I want to come back, I want to come back."