Much as they entertain a section of the society, episodic films in Bollywood are still not accepted by the larger audience.

Decades ago Hrishikesh Mukherjee's "Musafir" brought several stories together as one film. And now, Samar Khan's "Kuch Meetha Ho Jaye" - trailing several disjoint lives united briefly in an airport lounge - seems to be tottering.

Are the Hindi audiences still unable to accept a relatively unfocussed un-focussed view of human relationships, without the archetypal hero-heroine-villain? Looks like it.

Recently, Ram Gopal Varma's "Darna Manaa Hai" that rolled in several horror episodes into a single film fell flat on its face.

But that hasn't deterred the director, who is planning to make a three-story sequel, "Darna Zaroori Hai", to which he'll bring none other than Bollywood's monarch Amitabh Bachchan.

"I love the idea of offering differing perspectives on the same subject seen from the viewpoint of different characters," says the director, who has, in the past, succeeded in setting new trends in cinema.

"It's time the Indian audiences were given multi-dimensional opinions on life and relationships," he said.

But that doesn't look an easy fight.

Two years ago, Boman Irani's "Let's Talk" showed a man reacting to a broken marriage in several given situations.

Though the film succeeded in creating a new star in Boman, and a new language of cinematic expression, the film failed.

So did Mani Ratnam's "Yuva", with its multi-dimensional approach to the narrative, and Anant Mahadevan's "Dil Vil Pyar Vyar", which dealt with the love lives of its protagonists Madhavan, Jimmy Shergil, Sanjay Suri and Rakesh Bapat concurrently.

Explains filmmaker Hansal Mehta: "For years, audiences have been habituated to a linear narration and a plot about one protagonist. Now suddenly they're being exposed to a cinema where there're no clear-cut heroes and heroines, only characters. This requires a lot of re-adjustment."

In "Kuch Meetha Ho Jaye" we see debutant director Khan giving the viewers a simultaneous view into otherwise-detached relationships.

He describes it as his own take on the riddle of human relations as seen through a multiplicity of human relationships.

The film brings focus the changing face of Hindi cinema. But will the audience accept it?

Only time will tell.