Television anchor Sajid Khan turns film director

Sajid Khan, popularly known as the sharp-tongued funny man on television, has assigned another role for himself - a film director. Like his sister Farah Khan of "Main Hoon Na" fame and brother-in-law Shirish Kunder of "Jaan-E-Mann", Sajid is directing "Hey Baby" that stars Bollywood biggies like Akshay Kumar, Fardeen Khan, Sajid's buddy Riteish Deshmukh and Vidya Balan.

The film is produced by family friend Sajid Nadiadwala, who has also produced "Jaan-E-Mann".

Sajid Khan says he is very friendly with all the stars, not with Riteish alone.

"Why do you say only Riteish in my film's cast is my buddy?" Sajid starts off defensively. "I'm very friendly with all the stars. I've never encountered any star ego. Even on television, as an anchor, I may be sharp-tongued with them. But it's all out of fun."

Asked when did he find time to make a film despite his television schedule, Sajid says: "I am not a television actor. I'm an anchor. I don't work on television round the clock. I've enough time to do what I want. And, yes, directing a film is what seems like the right thing to do right now.

"I hope I've made a good film. And before you ask, a good film is one that I'd see three years from now and not cringe."

Interestingly, Sajid had directed a portion of Ram Gopal Varma's segmented horror flick "Darna Zaroori Hai". "That was just one-sixth of the film," he says.

A few years ago, Sajid had faced the camera for Hrishikesh Mukherjee's "Jhooth Bole Kauwa Kaate". However, he hasn't cast himself in his directorial venture.

Indo-Asian News Service