by Subhash K Jha

Saif Ali Khan has declined lead roles in Ram Gopal Varma's Sholay – he was offered Veeru's role--and Mani Rathnam's latest bi-lingual (in Hindi and English) to be shot in London.

"Practically speaking I could do just one of these three huge projects. All of them were top-of-the-line stuff with great roles for me," explains Saif who has just returned from a family holiday in Zurich and London and also a stopover at the Marrakesh film festival.

Sighs Saif, "The dates for Mani's films were clashing with Siddharth Anand's next which I've agreed to do . I'd have loved to work with Mani. He is after all...Mani! As for Sholay...yeah, who wouldn't want to do it? Someday I'd love to do a big gangster film. In fact Vishal Bhardwaj's adaptation of Othello is a big gangster film. So there!"

After much deliberation, Saif has decided to play Iago in Vishal's much talked-about adaptation of Othello.

"Vishal wanted me in Jan-Feb 2006, and that suited my schedule just fine. It's a bloody good script. And I get to a do full-on rustic character with a UP accent and all. I've never done all this before. It's got really cool dialogues."

Saif is going to spend a lot of time preparing for Vishal's Iago. "I'm already thinking of a scar and ear-rings for sure."