At a very short notice, he agrees for a casual chat at Andheri’s Cinemax, also to discuss Sankalan, a workshop for aspiring scriptwriters.

The director, who made his second film with a line of newcomers (including Neil Nitin Mukesh) after working with stars Saif Ali Khan and Urmila Matondkar in his first Ek Haseena Thi, however, has settled for bigger names for his next film—Aishwarya Rai and John Abraham. “This film will be realistic, despite having stars, and the project is still on,” says Raghavan, clearing off speculation that this movie has been stalled indefinitely. “Though I had blocked the actors’ dates, I did not start shooting, since I was not happy with certain parts of the script. Now I’m finally ready and hope to get their dates once again.”

This movie will be produced by Ramesh Sippy’s production house; apart from this, Raghavan is slated to make a movie for Saif’s Illuminati Films early next year. “This one will be a thriller and Saif will play the protagonist,” says Raghavan. “Though I am fond of thrillers, I don’t want to be typecast with the genre. The one with John and Aishwarya is not a thriller.”

At this point, we diverge into a general discussion on the filmmaker’s all-time favourite thrillers. Despite not being a die-hard fan of the genre, I turn an enthused listener; all the more when he ends up on one of my favourite films—Michael Powell’s 1960-film Peeping Tom. “From (Alfred) Hitchcock’s Psycho to Peeping Tom, these are movies that have inspired many filmmakers like me,” he adds.

Before making his first movie Ek Haseena..., Raghavan, an FTII graduate, had made a thriller (in video format) on Raman Raghav, a psychopathic serial killer in Mumbai, which had moved Ram Gopal Varma to turn producer for his first.