Years after "Damini", director Raj Kumar Santoshi is planning another soul-searching social film called "Samna" with Ajay Devgan, Akshay Kumar, Aishwarya Rai and Nana Patekar.

With contemporary politics as the backdrop, the film deals with how people are exploited in the name of caste and religion.

" 'Saamna' is a subject very close to my heart. Like my other film 'Damini', this one addresses the lack of moral courage in contemporary society," tells Santoshi , describing the film as a "hard-hitting, intense, soul-searching exercise with a social conscience".

"Unlike 'Damini', where the female protagonist took the lead, all the four main characters are critical to 'Saamna'," revealed the director, who can boast of path-breaking films like "Ghayal", "Damini", "Ghatak" and "Lajja".

"I've worked with Ash, Ajay and Akshay before. But I'm working with Nana for the first time. I'm looking forward to working with him."

For some time now, Raj Santoshi had been planning a historical Prithviraj-Sanjukta film with Ajay and Aishwarya, but that will have to wait. "The finances for a historical are daunting," he confesses.

For now, "Saamna", a story of downtown Mumbai that deals with a man's courage to change society, to be produced by his friend and first-time producer Abdul Sami Siddiqui, promises to lead Santoshi back to his roots.

"I had the theme with me for a long time. But I wasn't getting the right actors and backdrop," Santoshi said.

The film will start shooting once Santoshi finishes with "Family" starring Amitabh Bachchan and Akshay Kumar.

"I'll start 'Saamna' only after 'Family' is over. I'm pleased with 'Family'. Though it's far less hard-hitting than 'Saamna', it's very different kind of film."

About leading lady Aishwarya, who had earlier done a negative role for him in "Khakee": "Not too many people know that until more than half of 'Khakee' was shot, Aishwarya didn't know she was going to turn out to be a negative character at the end.

"She'll definitely have more to do in my new film. I share both a personal and professional rapport with her."