Beating daddy at his own game: Abhishek Bachchan with his father amitabh bachchan All has been quiet on the Ram Gopal Varma front in recent months. Since the release of Naach in November 2004, there has been no Varma film in the theatres. "I wanted to give the audience a break from my films," jokes India's most prolific filmmaker.

For heartbroken fans of his cinema, that certainly is bad news. "The drought is going to continue for two more months. But then there is going to be a virtual avalanche of our films, beginning with D (an underworld thriller) in April, My Wife's Murder (featuring Anil Kapoor and Nandana Sen) in May, James (with debutant Mohit Alaawat) in June and then the Amitabh-Abhishek Bachchan starrer Sarkar in July. We've locked in on July 4 for Sarkar."

Varma is currently shooting for Sarkar in Mumbai with the Bachchans, and his excitement is palpable. "The quality of performance I've been getting out of both of them has to be seen to be believed.

Of course, like every director, it was my dream to work with the senior Bachchan. But I genuinely believe Abhishek is a better actor than Amitji."

At the moment, Bachchan Sr needs another magician to take him beyond the success of Black. "I'm aware of that. I'm not even going there.

While Black presents a completely new facet of Mr Bachchan's personality, I've tried to re-create the smouldering intensity of his persona in early films like Deewaar, Namak Haraam and Trishul."

So will Sarkar be the first flick out with the two Bachchans? "I don't think so," says Ramu, characteristically confident. "I think Bunty Aur Babli will come first. But does it matter? I've never looked anxiously over my shoulder at what others are doing, so why should I start now?

It really doesn't matter to me what Shaad Ali or any other director is doing with the two Bachchans, as long as I'm confident of what I'm doing. Besides, I think the two films are totally different in mood."

Varma is also excited about the film Mr Ya Ms that Antra Mali is co-scripting. "It's basically about a casanova, played by Aftab Shivdasani, who gets a dose of his own medicine when he's reborn as a woman.

It's a comedy about a man's mind trapped in a woman's body.

Chakravarthy, who played the title role in Satya, will direct the film in March."

Didn't Chakravrthy bad-mouth Varma after Satya?

"If I keep track of everyone who bad-mouths me, I won't have anyone left to work with," jokes Varma. "My philosophy in life is to push ahead, not live in the past about who said what. Who has the time?"