A poster of Shikhar, and (below) Shahid Kapur with Bipasha Basu in the filmJohn M. Matthan

It?s taken you five years to make your next film after Sarfarosh. What took you so long?

After Sarfarosh, I took a one-and-a-half year break to travel and see India. Then I wrote a script to be shot in the US comparing both the democracies, and how they have an edge over us in terms of knowhow. But post-9/11, the film couldn?t be made because America was now looked at from a different point of view. So that script got shelved. Then I started re-working an old script of mine, which became Shikhar. The casting for the film was very difficult and we could finally start shooting from October 2004 and it has taken us one year to complete the movie. It releases on December 30.

Why was the casting difficult for someone who?s worked with Aamir Khan and Naseeruddin Shah in his first film?

I wanted a person who could play the role of a 20-year-old and be a star in his own right. These days one needs star value to recover his money. At that time there was nobody who fitted the bill. Then Ishq Vishk was released, which became a moderate hit, and Shahid Kapur came into the reckoning. So that was what was delaying the casting process.

From the promos, Shikhar looks very much like Oliver Stone?s Wall Street?

See, there are only so many plots in this world. The similarity between the two films is in the fact that in both a young guy meets an ambitious man. But beyond that there?s nothing similar to Wall Street. Here, it?s not about stocks. My film goes on to a different plane where it asks the question: How far do you go to reach the top? The top to me is God who sits at the pinnacle. So, Shikhar basically is the ascent of a person, about this evolution of a boy to a man.

Why did you choose a theme like this?

Because today?s generation is far more ambitious than the previous ones. My son is more ambitious than me and I am more ambitious than my father. Now if you have to fulfil your ambitions and reach somewhere in life, you have to lose your values at every stage. Unless you are a scientist working in some government organisation, you have to keep compromising. At that level too, I am sure, there must be politicking somewhere. You have to keep pushing in every sphere.

Also, why it is a contemporary story of today?s youth is because after 16-17, as parents you do not have control over your children anymore. They start making their own choices and it is these choices which defines their lives. So, I believe a theme like this would have a universal appeal ? from small towns to big metro cities.

What made you cast Ajay Devgan in the other role?

In the movie, while Shahid is very young and innocent and doesn?t know the world outside, the other man has seen the world from a very young age and already made it quite big in life. He also started with nothing and is now worth Rs 60-70 crore. So I needed someone with that kind of a personality. Ajay was more suitable than many other people and he has done a superb job.

Are the women just eye candy?

No, both the girls have quite a meaty role. Bipasha Basu plays a supermodel who is Ajay?s girlfriend in the movie. Shahid gets to be with her a lot and it is she who introduces him to the world of wine and women. Amrita Rao, on the other hand, has always pined for Shahid. Throughout the movie, you get to see all these characters changing and how their lives also keep taking turns.

John M. Matthan

You are promoting Shikhar as ?the second film by John Matthan? rather than ?from the maker of Sarfarosh??

It?s been five years since Sarfarosh, so I didn?t want to say that Shikhar is from the maker of that film. Cine-buffs would know anyway. Also, Sarfarosh had death hovering right through the film. Shikhar is diametrically opposite to it. It is very positive about how you can make life beautiful. Shikhar is a contrast of rural life and a very high city life.

Another five-year break after Shikhar too?

No, no. The break after Sarfarosh was pre-planned. I knew the film would make a decent profit and I would use that money to hit the road. This time I haven?t got the profit on the table because it is a much larger budget that I have worked with. But I believe Shikhar?s going to work, since it has a story to tell, rather than an attempt to tell a story. Everybody out there is dying to hear a story.

So what other stories do you want to tell them?

There are two scripts I am working on. One is an English film set in India with an Indian cast and a couple of English actors. Then there?s an adventure story. Which one of the two I will start next, will depend on how Shikhar fares at the box-office. Here, you are as good as your last film.