Shantilal Mukhopadhyay, Aparajita Ghosh Das and Tota Roy Choudhury in moments from Sharon Dutta?s debut film Raat Barota Panch

The horror film Raat Barota Panch, released last year, had managed to scare off viewers ?even before most had seen it. And so Sharon Dutta is changing track, but without straying too far. For his second venture, the ad film-maker-turned-feature film director has zeroed in on a love story in the garb of an action thriller.

Shikar, starring Koel Mullick and Amitabha Bhattacharya (who had played the lead in Bratya Basu?s Rasta), will revolve around a hired killer with a cop on his heels and an unsuspecting girl who gets involved in the cat-and-mouse game. Midway into the story, matters get muddled with the entry of ?another? Amitabha and with Koel hanging ?somewhere in between? the two men.

?I love watching and making thrillers and so the thrill aspect is common to my two films,? says Sharon. ?The story in Shikar is told in a very straightforward style with some twists and turns. I happened to come across a police case from where I got the idea and fleshed out my script.?

Though an out-and-out commercial film, Shikar is slightly different from the run-of-the-mill flow. For one, it will not have the lead pair prancing on the greens. Only one song ? of two that make up the film?s soundtrack ? will be picturised on Amitabha and Koel. The track has been sung by Babul Supriyo and Shreya Ghosal.

For a romantic film looking for mass appeal, the ambiguous ending might seem a little risky, but Sharon feels it?s time film-makers took the Bengali cine-goers a little more seriously.

?The expectations from a young film-maker are intelligent movies,? he stresses, having learnt that lesson from his debut venture. ?I was missing my maturity in Raat Barota Panch. I felt I didn?t honour the audience?s intelligence enough. In hindsight, I feel the story could have been made more contemporary. But I was so influenced by Evil Dead, which is a cult horror film, that I didn?t realise the audience had come a long away since,? admits Sharon, who is fascinated by the ?technically sound? films from the Ram Gopal Varma camp and also action thrillers from Hong Kong.

Produced by Cine Friends 2003, Shikar goes on the floors from April 17 and is targeting an August release. The film also stars June, Shantilal Mukherjee, Shagnik, Kanchan and Rajesh Sharma.

Leading lady Koel is most excited about the film. ?It?s a very different film and I am really very excited about the script. It also helps that I can relate to the film-maker, who is of my generation,? says Koel, who starts shooting later this month.