Beginning with Girish Dhamija, who has written numerous films for Mahesh Bhatt and Vikram Bhatt, Bollywood is set to witness several writers take to direction.

Dhamija, who has written the dialogues for Mahesh Bhatt's "Zakham", Tanuja Chandra's "Sangharsh" and "Dushman" and Vikram Bhatt's "Raaz" and "Kasoor", turns to direction with "Yakeen" - with how much success it remains to be seen.

Past experience shows that writers, no matter how good in their craft, don't make very successful directors.

Early examples include Rajinder Singh Bedi, who in spite of his screenwriting skills, couldn't make a success of his two directorial ventures "Dastak" and "Phagun". Both the films were critical successes but commercial failures.

Sagar Sarhadi, a brilliant writer, couldn't make a career in direction despite a brilliant film like "Bazaar", starring Naseeruddin Shah, Smita Patil and Supriya Pathak.

His second venture "Tere Shaher Mein", with Patil in the lead, never got released.

More recently, writer Anees Bazmi made a vain effort to glide into the directorial limelight. Though his "Deewaangi" had some success, Bazmi hasn't really been able to connect with the audience.

Bazmi is now ready to strike back with a comedy called "No Entry" directed for producer Boney Kapoor. The film is scheduled for release in August.

Abbas Tyrewala, known for his crisp and witty dialogues in Raj Kumar Hirani's "Munnabhai M.B.B.S." and the intense lines of Vishal's "Maqbool", is turning director. His debut will be with a romantic musical called "Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na", starring newcomers.

And Rumi Jaffrey, who has written several laugh riots for David Dhawan, is currently directing Salman Khan and Priyanka Chopra in a romantic comedy.

"He's fantastic. Rumi's the second writer-turned-director I've worked with after Girish Dhamija in 'Yakeen'. Both are very competent," says Priyanka.

"Since they're writers, they've all the shots exactly in place before the take. No time is wasted. Work is done with élan and fun."

Suparn Verma, who wrote the crisp and underrated "Chhal" as well as "Yeh Kya Ho Raha Hai", has directed a romantic comedy called "Ek Khiladi Ek Hasina" for Pritish Nandy Communications with Fardeen Khan and Koena Mitra in the lead.

Verma is busy with the film's editing. He has his own take on why so many writers fail as directors.

"It's like this - you may be a very good lover in your head, though not necessarily in bed," he says.

"You may be able to put stories on paper, down to the last punctuation mark. But when it comes to putting those ideas on celluloid, the nitty-gritty of shot division, frame composition etc., could elude you by a wide margin."

Verma calls several writers "armchair wizkids".

"They are good in their head but not behind the camera. I hope I can prove this theory about writers wrong. I've made a film that's racy and funny. I hope the audiences agree with me," he says.