Ram Gopal Varma is like a scientist. He loves to experiment.

That may be one of the reasons why he has always encouraged new talent.

In fact, he is now on the lookout for good horror stories from the people, for the sequel of Darna Mana Hai, called Darna Zaroori Hai.

In the third of our series on Bollywood's Top 5 Directors, rediff.com takes a look at some actors who owe their success to this man. Readers had earlier voted for Nikhil Advani and Rakesh Roshan as the first and second Best Directors of 2003.

Shiva was an action film The film catapulted both Ramu and actor Nagarjuna to fame in Bollywood.

The duo went on to work in many more films together, including Drohi, and Telugu films like Govinda Govinda and Antam. But they were not able to pull off another Satya.

Ramu’s career took off, but Nagarjuna failed to make an impact in the Hindi film industry in spite of starring in good films like Criminal and Zakhm. His last Hindi film Agni Varsha also sank.

The actor appears next in J P Dutta’s LoC.

Urmila Matondkar is pretty much a permanent part of Ramu’s films. With Rangeela, Urmila went on to become Bollywood’s sex symbol.

Her performance also bettered with each film. In Satya, she played an innocent girl-next-door. In Mast, she played an actress. She held together the thriller Kaun, which had only three characters. In Jungle, she played a terrified hostage.

Urmila did not have a role in Company, but Ramu created an item song specially for the actress.

She won great appreciation for her performance in Bhoot this year.

She will next appear in his production Ek Hasina Thi, opposite Saif Ali Khan.

Manoj Bajpai was not the lead actor in Satya, J D Chakravarthi was. Unfortunately, this hit film did nothing to the latter’s career, as he was completely overshadowed by Bajpai.

Theatre actor Bajpai made Bhiku Mathre one of the best characters in the film and won stardom overnight. Incidentally, this was not his first Ram Gopal film; he had appeared in Daud earlier.

Later, he appeared in solo hero films (Shool, Ghaath, Dil Pe Mat Le Yaar), and in supporting roles (Fiza, Aks, Road, Pinjar). He has not been able to repeat his Satya success.

Bajpai’s next release is J P Dutta’s LoC-Kargil.

Aftab Shivdasani, who had faced the camera as a child in Shekhar Kapur’s Mr India, debuted in Hindi films as an adult actor in Mast.

Mast was a fantasy story of a young boy in love with an actress (played by Urmila). The film did not do well but Aftab got the needed foothold in the industry. Mast also saw Antara Mali for the first time in a tiny role.

Aftab has never been repeated in any of Ramu’s directorial ventures. But his story in Ramu’s production Darna Mana Hai was one of the best.

Mast also introduced supporting actor Rajpal Yadav. He was actually recognised in his next Ram Gopal film, Jungle. Yadav has since featured in most of Ramu’s films.

Recently, the actor even bagged the lead role in Main Madhuri Dixit Banna Chahti Hoon, produced by Ramu.

Fardeen Khan’s debut Prem Aggan, directed by father Feroze Khan, was a disaster. If not for Ramu’s Jungle, Fardeen tongues wag that he may not have had a film career.

Jungle, a take-of on forest brigand Veerappan, saw a makeover of Fardeen. The actor appeared more suave and good-looking in this film. Fardeen also featured in Ramu’s Bhoot, in a cameo.

Jungle also introduced Sushant Singh as a forest bandit. The newcomer bagged many awards for the film.

The name Vivek Oberoi created a lot of buzz even before the actor’s debut film Company released. When it did, Vivek Oberoi became a star overnight.

Oberoi, who appeared in a supporting role to Ajay Devgan, made the masses and critics sit up and how! The film also saw Antara Mali in a proper role, unlike her debut in Mast. She also made a positive impact on the audiences.

The duo, who formed a love angle in Company, went on to act in Road, produced by Ramu. The film flopped.

They also featured in Darna Mana Hai, but not as a couple.