by Subhash K Jha

After Sarfarosh and the just-released Shikhar, John Matthan hopes to move into a totally different genre.

"I plan to make a political parable designed as a treasure hunt.... Yes, on the lines of the Nicolas Cage-starrer national Treasure. It would be a very expensive film, and one that I can do full justice to as a producer, only if Shikhar breaks even."

The nobly intended Shikhar cost around Rs 14 crore to make. "It wasn't easy to make Shikhar," John confesses.

"All the sequences pertaining to the eco-friendly village in the outdoors had sets constructed on them. And now to do my next film I'd need an even bigger budget."

John would perforce have to cast big stars in his next. "You can't hope to make a big-budget film without stars. You don't get an audience if you do. If I had cast a newcomer in Shahid's role in Shikhar, I'd have been at a loss."

About Shikhar being ripped off from Oliver Stone's Wall Street, he says, "I wasn't even aware of any similarities until after I finished my script. When I narrated it to one of my actors, we both realized there was a similarity between the Michael Douglas-Charlie Sheen mentor-pupil relationship and Ajay Devgan's rapport with Shahid. But to suggest that I've ripped off Wall Street in Shikhar is far-fetched."

One film that John regrets leaving behind is the one he designed with Aamir Khan in mind after Sarfarosh.

"It was about the rationale behind Indians migrating to the US. But after 9/11, it made no sense. After two years of work, I decided to abandon my film with Aamir and start from scratch. That's how Shikhar was born."