Hirani marvels at Amitabh's acting skills

"Munnabhai" creator Raj Kumar Hirani worked with Amitabh Bachchan for the first time in an Emami hair oil ad and hasn't stopped raving about the superstar since.

"I can't tell you what a pleasure it was to work with Mr. Bachchan. We shot the hair-oil ad with Ninad Kamath and Mr. Bachchan. I didn't have to direct him. He directed himself. He automatically switches from the feature to ad mode. He infects the whole unit with his energy. We were supposed to take two days. We wrapped up in a day," Hirani told IANS.

Now Hirani is hoping to work in a feature film with the Big B.

This was Hirani's second ad after the release of his super successful film "Lage Raho Munnabhai".

"I've also shot an ad with Sanjay Dutt, again for a hair oil. I shot Sanjay's ad a month back. I've an ad outfit from before I started making feature films. That continues to be functional for my extra 'kharcha-pani'."

Now that NRI filmmaker Mira Nair's plans to do a Hollywood version of "Munnabhai M.B.B.S." with Chris Tucker have been put on hold because of scripting issues, all eyes are set on the third part of the Hirani's "Munnabhai" trilogy to carry the laughable legacy forward.

"It is true that Nair has put her on film on hold. But Munnabhai and Circuit are very Indian characters. They'll remain Indian even when I take them to the US. I'm being told that it will be looked at as a crossover film. But I don't think so."

Hirani, whose "Lage Raho Munna Bhai" was directly pitched against "Rang De Basanti" at all the awards functions, says he loves the Aamir Khan starrer.

"I'd have loved to make 'Rang De Basanti'. What a script! There're no scripts around. I know anything will work with 'Munnabhai' in it."