by Subhash K Jha

They both are successful producers. Their on-release film is directed by 20-something youngsters. And they both hope to crack a new genre.

Pritish Nandy has Ek Khiladi Ek Haseena on 18 November. The Sippys are all set to release Bluff Master a month later on 16 December.

Interestingly both these films claim a genre-cracking status. They both fall into a hitherto-unexplored style of filmmaking called a Con Caper.

Bluff Master producer Ramesh Sippy welcomes a new genre.

"I suppose Ek Khiladi Ek Hasina and Bluff Master are a new comic experience for the audience. That audiences have had it up to there with the conventional comedy has been amply proved by what happened to some Diwali releases. Our audience is on the look-out for a new experience. I guess the slick con- caper is going to provide that thrill of the unexplored."

Says the Khiladi producer Pritish Nandy, "I don't know about Bluff Master. But it looks very interesting. Is that a con caper too? Ek Khiladi Ek Haseena is certainly a very stylish state-of-the-art caper where all the characters try to outdo one another. Until the very end the audience will keep wondering what the characters are up to."

As a producers who has encouraged the corporotization of the chaotic film industry Pritish Nandy is constantly trying to push the envelope.

"We really couldn't and shouldn't be doing the same things over and over again. Whether it's a Hazaar Khwahishein Aisi by a seasoned Sudhir Mishra or Ek Khiladi Ek Hasina with a new director Suparn Verma...We at PNC (Pritish Nandy Corporation) want to get away from the rut," says Pritish.

A lot of eyebrows have been raised about the steamy MMS clip of Fardeen Khan and Koena Mitra. But Pritish is unperturbed.

"What's the fuss about? Just because the MMS medium has been misused by pornographic minds it doesn't make the technology bad. If you go to the websites you find details on how to make a nucleur bomb and also to cure Alzheimer's disease."

"It's up to us how we use the wherewithal obtainable to us. Just because the MMS has been so far misused, it doesn't mean it's an undesirable technology."

In fact Pritish thinks the MMS is a cool way of promoting films.

"That one song clipping featuring Fardeen and Koena in shower has set the stocks of my film soaring. The interest that one clipping has generated is astonishing."

Pritish now intends to make further use of the technology to promote his other films. "Why not? We've big plans at PNC and we want every possible means of promotion to be used. Our biggest yet would be Sahib Biwi Aur Ghulam where Rituparno Ghosh will be directing Salman Khan, Priyanka Chopra and John Abraham."

Get ready for MMS clippings featuring Ms Chopra with the two centrespread kings.