/> Don't tell anyone. But director Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra is a closet-actor. In Bhaag Milkha Bhaag when Milkha Singh, played by Farhan Akhtar, flies on a plane for the first time Rakeysh plays the captain of the flight crew who has to come out of the cockpit to pacify Milkha.

Laughs Rakeysh.`Nobody noticed. But I was also in the last scene of Rang De Basanti as young Bhagat Singh's father.`

Recalling the experience of shooting the of the extremely comic sequence of Milkha's first air journey (reminiscent of Sridevi's flight to the USA in English Vinglish) Rakeysh says, `We shot a lot more.I had to cut the scene down.What remains is what really happened to Milkhaji.Every incident from his life is worth putting on film.`

Rakeysh just returned home having screened BMG for audiences the Tribeca Cinemas in New York. He is very happy with the response to the film there.

`In New York a lot of the audience and critics were Americans. And they seemed to connect with the historical perspective and cultural sensitivities of the story.We got a standing ovation at the end.`