Tracking director Anubhav Sinha's meteori

For the director of "Tum Bin", small stars are a thing of the past. Anubhav Sinha is planning at least four major films with the biggest of Bollywood stars.

In fact, he is getting Sunny Deol to play a serial killer in his next movie.

"We haven'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," the ultra-busy Sinha told IANS.

"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 Sinha's rise as meteoric would be no exaggeration - from the director of the small and sweet "Tum Bin" to "Dus" for cool dudes.

"Yeah, I guess I've come a long...," he 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.50 million in Mumbai alone, the trade wrote it off as a mere commission earner.

"How can they do that? Salman (Khan) told me I was an idiot to have made my first film 'Tum Bin' with small stars."

Now he is working with people like Sunny and Ajay Devgan.

"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 one asks, Sinha intends to make a sequel of sorts to "Dus" called "Gyarah" in 2007 with the same cast, plus one other major star.

"All my films will have major stars. But they won't be multistarrers 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."

Sinha 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'."