by Subhash K. Jha

Sunny Deol's career might be on a low pitch right now. But he's all set to bounce back with plum roles in Chandraprakash Diwedi's Prithviraj- Sanjukta and now Anubhav Sinha's next where Sunny will star as a serial killer.

"We have't really had any remarkable films on a serial killer in Hindi. Of course we had Rajesh Khanna playing one in Red Rose many decades ago...I find the whole process of getting into a killer's mind very interesting," confesses the ultra-busy Anubhav.

"When I approached Sunny for another more positive role in the film (which I want to title Pancham) he showed more interest in the serial killer. Just goes to show how our big stars are pining to change tracks.

The film—"with lots of music"—will be launched shortly.

To describe Anubhav Sinha's rise as meteoric would be no exaggeration. From the director of the small-and sweet Tum Bin to the Dus dude.... "Yeah I guess I've come a long," Anubhav tries to sound modest.

"But it hasn't been easy. Though Dus was one of those rare films this year that succeeded in both single theatres and multiplexes, and though it raked in Rs 5 crores in Mumbai alone, the trade wrote it off as a mere commission earner. How can they do that? Salman told me I was an idiot to have made my first film Tum Bin with small stars."

Now small stars are a thing of the past. Anubhav is planning at least four major films with the biggest of stars. "I start a caper –thriller Cash with Ajay Devgan and Zayed Khan in June. It's a commitment I made to producer Sahail Lakhani even before the release of Dus . You know the only cash I've made recently is Rs 786. That's the signing amount I got for Cash."

And before we ask, Anubhav intends to make a sequel of sorts to Dus called....what else?...Gyarah...in 2007 with the same cast, plus one other major star.

"All my films will have major stars. But they won't be multi-starrers in the same way as the earlier eras when stars were signed and stories were woven around them. Look at Paheli. It had so many major stars. But they all played definite characters."

Anubhav also intends to make a film for kids. "It won't talk down to children. It will be a huge film with a budget even bigger than Dus."