Vikram Bhatt moves on to Footpath Post APD, the director has his plate full

Subhash K Jha

Vikram Bhatt could not have asked for more. The only two hits in the industry this year --- Raaz and Awara Paagal Deewana --- are his.

Naturally, the superstitious and insecure filmmaking fraternity in Mumbai is looking at the director with hopeful eyes.

His latest venture, Mukesh Bhatt's Footpath, stars Aftab Shivdasani, Rahul Dev and Mahesh Bhatt's nephew Emran as juvenile delinquents who stumble into a life of crime. Bhatt is shooting nonstop for this film on the Rs 15 million set depicting a Mumbai street.

Earlier, the film earlier had Raaz hero Dino Morea in the lead. But later, Rahul Dev stepped in. "The script was not written when we approached Dino," says Bhatt. "After the success of Raaz, we decided Dino would be better off doing a solo hero project for the same producers."

Bhatt's mobile rings constantly in spite of him having changed the number twice in two months. The 35-year-old director declares, "I am doing only two films at a time. My third film Aitbaar (starring Amitabh Bachchan and Bipasha Basu), ran into financial problems and is now stalled. Hopefully, it will be sorted out soon.

"But I do not have the dates to shoot the film. After Footpath is over, I start Kutumb in January 2003. I will also direct my childhood friend Ashish's film early next year. I do not think I can do Aitbaar at all," he says, ruefully.

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Interestingly, Vikram's film with Ashish will star another close friend, Bobby Deol. "Bobby and I share a birthday," says Bhatt. "We were even born the same year. Since we went to the same school, we even spent our summer holidays together. I am looking forward to working with them."

Meanwhile, rumours linking Bobby Deol's Humraaz costar Amisha Patel with Bhatt are gaining momentum in the industry. The director shrugs them off, saying, "The magazines are always full of something or other about me. I was linked to Lisa Ray and Bipasha Basu before this, so I am used to it. I wish the rumours were true!"

However, Bhatt does plan to launch Patel's brother Asmit. He says, "He has been my assistant for the last year. He is very special and very handsome. But that has nothing to do with Amisha."