Aftab Shivdasani in Koi Aap Sa

A Balaji film without Tusshar Kapoor? Well, Koi Aap Sa has done the impossible with Ektaa Kapoor replacing her brother with Aftab Shivdasani. The Farex baby (he did shoot for the baby food commercial) who made a splash with Ram Gopal Varma?s Mast and went on to have a whole lot of Masti, is gearing up for his first release, exactly 52 weeks since Shukriya.

?I did expect Shukriya to do well but the audience thought otherwise,? Aftab tells Metro with the dimpled smile that has floored the likes of Esha Deol and Yana Gupta. ?I am again hoping that Koi Aap Sa will do well, but only time can prove me right or wrong.?

Koi Aap Sa, conceptualised by Ektaa herself, has Aftab playing a football player in love with the character played by Natassha.

?It?s a very sweet story,? Aftab adds. ?It tries to pinpoint the difference between friendship and love. I know there have been films on this theme, but here it?s a completely fresh take on the subject.?

But the promos have a different story to tell with Natassha mouthing: ?He is not my lover, he is not my husband, he is the father of my child...?

A deep breath later, Aftab reveals the real plot: ?The unwed mother angle is the surprise element of the film. I think it?s time that we are ready to accept films made on real subjects like this.?

Off the sets, Aftab is very much a sportsperson (probably what prompted Ektaa to cast him as the soccer star). A snooker pro, he was ranked number three at the Maharashtra junior level championships.

He can also wield the willow having hit mighty sixes in the Amsterdam face-off between Shah Rukh?s XI and Hrithik?s XI during the IIFA weekend. ?I also took six wickets there, including that of Mohammed Azharuddin. I even bagged the Man-of-the Match award,? Aftab is quick to remind us.

As far as movies go, it was the comic roller-coaster Masti that salvaged Aftab?s sagging career to some extent. ?I did not sign a lot of comedies immediately after that although the film set the trend for many such films... It?s not that I won?t do another comedy film, but after a gap. So I took up Koi Aap Sa, which is very much a romantic film and quite different in character to Masti.?

Those who are hooked to the K-series on the telly would know it all, what with every character in every serial from Kahiin To Hoga to K Street Pali Hill promoting the movie as the next Godfather of Bollywood!

While Aftab pins his hopes on this feel-good mush, he has lots more to look forward to. ?There?s Shaadi Se Pehle from Subhash Ghai?s Mukta Arts banner, where I play a self-obsessed man who finally falls in love. Then there?s Ram Gopal Varma?s Darwaza Bandh Rakho, which is a black comedy. I am doing Vikram Bhatt?s Aakhir and another film with UTV co-starring Sanjay Dutt and Zayed Khan.?

You can catch Aftab in Koi Aap Sa at INOX (Forum): 12.35 pm, 3.55 pm, 6.30 pm, 9.15 pm; INOX (City Centre): 1.10 pm, 3.50 pm, 7.30 pm, 9.35 pm; 89 Cinemas: 2.25 pm, 5 pm, 7.35 pm, 10.10 pm.