'Deepika opp Amitabh!why not!?' BALKI

By Subhash K Jha

Balki has braked his plans of his next feature film until his wife Gauri Shinde whom Balki met in the advertising world, makes her first feature.

"She isn't going to rush her script. And I'm willing to wait," says the director who just missed the Screen popular awards for best director and best film which went to Raj Kumar Hirani's 3 Idiots instead of Paa.

Ask Balki if he cares. In fact he didn't even want to attend the awards.

"In all these years in advertising I never went for awards function for excellence in ad-making. Naturally I thoughy I'd extend the same attitude to filmmaking. However Mr Bachchan and Abhishek wanted me to accompany them for the Screen awards so I went. It was…. fun! I was thrilled for Amitji, Vidya Balan, the child artiste who played Vishnu and Arundhati Nag. "

As for Balki missing out on the awards for best director and best picture, he shrugs, "It just means more people saw 3 Idiots than Paa which I gladly accept. I saw 3 Idiots too and had a good time. I thought Aamir Khan and Kareena Kapoor were fantastic. "

Balki is in fact thinking of working with Kareena, after having extracted such outstanding work from Tabu in Cheeni Kum and Vidya Balan in Paa. "I'd also love to work with Deepika Padukone," says Balki enthusiastically.

Since the Big B will be in his next film, would it be Deepika opposite the actor?

"Why not?" shoots back Balki. "It all depends on how far you stretch the boundaries of conventionality in cinema. For me there's no point in making feature films if I don't push the envelope. I might as continue making ads. "

After two hugely unconventional successes Balki is no mood to sit on his laurels. He has already started work on his next film, a comedy written for the Big B in mind.

Shedding light on the laughter that would emanate from his third feature film Balki says, "Cheeni Kum and Paa were both humorous takes on what people saw as serious issues. But I never set out to make isse-based films. They just happened. I just want to entertain the audience intelligently. My comedy won't be slapstick or a situational. It would be a very specific situation and theme targeted at bringing out the amusing side of a particular aspect of our life. "