/> After his highly-acclaimed acting debut in Anurag Kashyap's Gangs Of Wasseypur, filmmaker Tigmanshu Dhulia, currently swamped in two back- to-back directorial undertakings, has been persuaded to face the camera again.

This time it's for Ketan Mehta's Mountain Man, the bio-pic on the unsung Bihari hero Dashrath Manjhi who dug a road through a mountain from his remote village to the nearest city.

Dhulia, one was pleased to hear, had been persuaded to play a negative character once again by Ketan Mehta. Apparently when Dhulia begged off citing his water-tight schedule, Ketan insisted only Tigmanshu could play the part.

On Sunday Tigmanshu drove to Wai on the outskirts of Mumbai to shoot for the film.

Says the filmmaker, `Ketan said he had a role for me in Mountain Man. I play the evil mukhiya of a village in Bihar. I couldn't say no to Ketan. I've been a fan of his work forever. So here I am once again heading to the badlands, all thanks to Anurag Kashyap. `


The nominations for best debutant have already started for Tigmanshu's performance in Gangs Of Wasseypur, alongside the other filmmaker- turned-actor Farah Khan.

Laughs Tigmanshu, `I don't know Farah's plans. But I've no intention of pursuing an acting career. Main direction mein khush hoon. I did Gangs Of Wasseypur for Anurag Kashyap. Now I am doing Mountain Man for Ketan. That's it. I've 6-7 scenes. `

Incidentally Tigmanshu is a trained actor from the Nation school Of Drama. `And just to set the record straight, Gangs Of Wasseypur is technically not my acting debut. I had one shot with Shah Rukh Khan in Mani Rathnam's Dil Se. `