"I genuinely believe Abhishek is a better actor than Amitji," says ace director Ram Gopal Varma after a long shooting spell for his "Sarkar" featuring the two Bachchans.

"The quality of performance I'm 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," says Varma.

Since the release of "Naach" in November 2004, there has been no Ram Gopal Varma film in the theatres.

"And that's quite a long layoff by our standards. For heartbroken fans of my cinema I've bad news. The drought is going to continue for two more months," Varma told IANS in an interview.

"But then there's 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' (launching debutant Mohit Alaawat) in June and then my Amitabh-Abhishek Bachchan starrer 'Sarkar' in July ... We've locked in on July 4 for 'Sarkar'," Varma said.

Right now the senior Bachchan needs another magician to go beyond "Black".

"I'm aware of that. I'm not even going there. While 'Black' presents a completely new facet of Bachchan's personality, I've tried to re-create the smouldering intensity of the Bachchan's persona in the 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," Varma is 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. 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 a film "Mr Ya Ms" that Antara 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 about a man's mind trapped in a woman's body.

"It's a comedy. Chakravarthy who played the title role in my 'Satya' and was also Sushmita's co-star in 'Vastu Shastra' will direct the film in March."

Didn't Chakravarthy badmouth Varma after "Satya"?

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