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Ramu wanted me to act in 'Darna...': Sajid
By Subhash K. Jha, Indo-Asian News Service

Mumbai, May 5 (IANS) Comedian Sajid Khan says he almost acted in Ram Gopal Varma's latest horror extravaganza "Darna Zaroori Hai" instead of part-directing it along with six others.

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The former TV anchor, set to direct a full-fledged film soon, said: "Varma had wanted to make a comedy with me in the lead on the lines of 'Naked Gun'. I said it won't work. Ramu didn't care. He thought I had a fan following for my kind of humour. That didn't happen." 

"Then he wanted me to act in 'Darna Zaroori Hai'. I narrated him a horror story I had heard in school. As I told it to him, I began to improvise. You know how good I am at that," Sajid told IANS. 

"Ramu loved the story. He wanted me to direct it. I agreed though I had never assisted any filmmaker. I guess neither had Ramu. So he knows all it takes is a love for the movies to direct a film."

Sajid completed his segment of "Darna Zaroori Hai" in just four days. 

"I chose a relatively unknown actor - Manoj Pahwa - because he was perfect. The whole film is a monologue with only one character. It is about a guy who doesn't get scared until the night he crosses a graveyard.

"I kick-started (the shooting of) 'Darna Zaroori Hai'. Mine was the first story. Then the film was on hold for a long time. I didn't know there were going to be six other directors. Now that I know, I still don't feel any sense of competition. It was a good experience. I had a great team. They kept correcting me. It is very important to learn on the job," he said.

Next, he will direct an entire feature film - "Hey Baby" - for producer Sajid Nadiadwala. "It's not a film about a baby," he quipped. 

"I don't want to rush through my screenplay. Every day I want to make it better. And Sajid Nadiadwala is such a producer, if you tell him you want to shoot in Hong Kong, he'll offer to take your unit to the Great Wall of China. My father was a producer. So I know how producers cut corners."

"Hey Baby" has an impressive star cast - Akshay Kumar, Vidya Balan, Fardeen Khan and Riteish Deshmukh. 

"You have to have stars to get the audiences into theatres. Believe me, my future as a director doesn't depend on how 'Darna Zaroori Hai' is received by the audience. If critics like my segment, well and fine. Otherwise no sweat. 

"You know there was a move to ban critics in Bollywood recently. Can you believe it? How can movies be made without people judging them? How can you have a beauty contest without judges?" he asked.

However, Sajid confessed he'd love to direct his segment in 'Darna Zaroori Hai' all over again. 

"So many changes I'd like to make...Ramu didn't come for even one minute for those four days (of shooting). I told him not to. If he did, the press would say he directed it. He believed in me. 

"He knew the story was good. It couldn't go wrong...like Vipul Shah's 'Waqt - Race Against Time'. The story couldn't be messed up. Like 'Titanic'. Even if the ship was smaller, it would still have created history," Sajid said.