by Subhash K Jha

"Help!' mock-moans Madhavan. "If all the big-shot directors of the country turn to acting what will we do?"

He has a point. First it was only Subhash Ghai who dug the idea of doing flash-appearances in his films. We couldn't blame him. Ghai had come into the industry with the express purpose of being an actor.

But what makes some of our top-notch directors face the camera? Farhan Akhtar, Karan Johar, Shaad Ali and Ashutosh Gowariker have all proved themselves closet-actors.

And pretty competent ones at that. Farhan Akhtar has completed an entire film called The Fakir directed by Anand Surapur. He's quite kicked by the idea of playing hero. " I'm playing the lead. I'm enjoying the experience. My director seems to like my acting. Either he's a good liar or a good friend. They want to premiere the film at the Venice Film Festival."

After The Fakir , Farhan is expected to do a major role in Rituparno Ghosh's film with Amitabh Bachchan and Shabana Azmi. "But I'm still waiting for Ritu to confirm. He better do so real soon. I'm shortly going to be a very busy actor."

Karan Johar too is looking at an alternative career. "Not quite, " he chuckles. "A cameo in Home Delivery doesn't quite amount to an alternative career. Director Sujoy Ghosh was persuasive. I couldn't say no to him. I thoroughly enjoyed my stint as an actor.

"If you remember I played one of Shah Rukh's friends along with Arjun Sablok in Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge. Now we know why the film was an all-time hit," Karan jokes, then adds, "I had started as a child star on tv in Anand Mahendroo's Indradhanush."

Arjun Sablok and Shaad Ali are two other filmmakers to have done cameo roles . While Sablok made an appearance in " Dilwale Dulhaniya... and Dhoom, Shaad Ali was seen as a Sufi mendicant in the title song of his own Bunty Aur Babli.

"Sometimes you just don't have a choice," says director Hansal Mehta who has done acting roles on television.

"For example Guru Dutt was forced to step into the male lead in Pyaasa when Dilip Kumar backed out at the eleventh hour. I'm not saying any of us is Guru Dutt. But hey, we're getting there."