145;Casting Shah Rukh Khan doesn146;t excite me146;

The director who shoots his mouth off does it again. He tells Harneet Singh that King Khan is a star, not an actor

Why remake S Sh hi iv va a?

Deep inside, everyone loves a hero. Since Amitabh Bachchan8217;s angry young man, we haven8217;t had a real action hero. Shiva is my attempt to reinvent the hero of the 8216;70s.

There are rumours that you have gone bankrupt?

I never had the money to go bankrupt. I think the rumours started after my break-up with K Sera Sera. Because of all this transition, I wasn8217;t able to maintain creative control over my productions. My funda of doing business is simple. I earn enough to put it in another film.

Have you gone creatively bankrupt then? All recent Factory products bombed.

Our films are pretty high on the concept level. Maybe we faltered in executing them, or took on too much. But it8217;s an ongoing process.

Is Ram Gopal Varma Ke Sholay ever going to be made?

We start shooting next month.

Is it true that Ajay Devgan has problem with the script?

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This is media8217;s creation. Ajay is quite happy to play Veeru.

Why remake Sholay?

Sholay is like a beautiful woman. can8217;t do much, other than change her clothes. It is my tribute to that great film.

Isn8217;t it narcissistic to call the film Ram Gopal Varma Ke Sholay? What do you say?

That way I get to take the entire blame on myself. Your relationship with most of your discoveries, actors and directors, is short lived8230; Maybe they get more money outside or maybe they feel they no longer require my guidance or interference. It8217;s ok, I can survive without anyone.

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Apparently, Shah Rukh Khan is miffed with your unflattering remarks about him?

I just said that his kind of stardom cuts across all age groups, so the expectations are huge. This might put a burden on me creatively. I8217;m known for dark films. The idea of casting Shah Rukh doesn8217;t excite me enough to change my style of filmmaking. There are stars and there are actors. I think Shah Rukh is a star. Anyway, I don8217;t care much about actors, they are worth a dime a dozen. My own family prefers to watch his movies rather than mine.

So whom do you like?

I like macho intimidating heroes like Amitabh Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan.

What8217;s this on-going war with Karan Johar?

I was being sarcastic when I said that Karan8217;s films are my favourite horror films. I8217;m scared of their commercial success. It was meant as a back-handed compliment. Now I swear on my mother, sister and Siddhivinayak temple that I won8217;t say anything against Karan. I think he8217;s better than James Cameron and KANK is better than Titanic.