Actor Rajpal Yadav, who has turned director and producer with "Ata Pata Lapata", looks up to late Raj Kapoor for inspiration and calls him the teacher of creativity.

"If I have to choose one person, the one person who inspired Rajpal Yadav is Raj Kapoor saab. The way Raj Kapoor saab acted and directed all his life, I don't think there is anyone today who can even touch him. He was also from a theatre background. I consider him the teacher of creativity," the 41-year-old said here in an interview.

"I have learned a lot looking at his work - 'Aag', 'Awaara', 'Teesri Kasam', 'Jaagte Raho' then 'Ram Teri Ganga Maili' and 'Mera Naam Joker'. He acted in some and he directed others. He tried to enter every layer of entertainment," he added.

Rajpal, who primarily made a place as a comic actor, tried to break away from it with films lie "Main, Meri Patni aur Woh" and "Main Madhuri Dixit Banna Chahti Hoon".

He feels these two films triggered the current wave of off-beat films, which are categorised neither as art nor commercial.

"The third line of cinema today is neither art nor commercial but categorised as good and bad cinema. I think two films - 'Main, Meri patni aur Woh' and 'Main Madhuri Dixit Banna Chahti Hoon' were the base films for this new line of cinema," Rajpal said.

"People liked them and then there were many more like 'Khosla Ka Ghosla', 'Welcome To Sajjanpur', 'Bheja Fry', and 'Tere Bin Laden'. These became a pattern of good cinema," he added.

"Ata Pata Lapata" stars a host of actors like Ashutosh Rana, Asrani, Vijay Raaz, Yashpal Sharma, Govind Namdev, Yashpal Sharma and late Dara Singh besides Rajpal himself.

The film is slated for a Nov 2 release.