By Subhash K Jha

Spurned  by the Race  producers,  Abbas-Mustan are planning   to  revive  their  long-forgotten shelved  project Mr  Fraud for Tips’ rival company  Astavinayak which stars  Bipasha  Basu.

Says  Bipasha,  “If Mr Fraud  is  revived I’d be  happy to give dates.The  film was shot in London and the styling was not  time bound.”

Not that Bipasha is mourning her absence in  Race  2. “I heard  even Abbas-Mustan are  not  doing Race 2. If the  original  directors are not doing the  sequel, who am I? I haven’t been approached  for Race  2. That’s fine. In Bollywood  the heroines  are never  signed  for  sequels. It’s  a tradition . Just check the  sequels. The  guys get  repeated. The girls don’t.  It’s a man’s world.I don’t feel  like a second citizen for that.  When Raaz 2 was made everyone kept asking  why I  wasn’t in it.  But I never worried  about  that. No point  in crying about it.”

Moving on  from Race, Bipasha has  just signed her  second comedy.Coincidentally  comedy  reprises  the  Mr Fraud trio.

Laughs Bipasha,  “That’s right  Sanjay , Ajay and I are  together again in All The Best.  This  is  the  one  film I’ll  enjoyed  doing.I had a ball  doing  No Entry. Intially I had too many inhibitions  about Bollywod.  No Entry  made me  drop those inhibitions. I’m sure  Rohit Shetty’s All The Best will  make me more  uninhibited. …It’s a fun  film and I don’t have to  always  do roles that reflect my personality. Sometimes  it’s fun to  do fun film.”

Bipasha has signed  only one film this year.    “I don’t want do any more work than my pace allows me. I  don’t   want to compete  with anybody. I’ve made a niche  right  from my first film. I’m  Bipasha  Basu. I don’t think there’s any replacement  for that. I enjoy my work. But there so much more my vocation as an actor than just acting. I can do stage shows, be a businesswoman, work for social causes.I keep  busy   24 by 7. At  this  stage  of my life I don’t need  to sit   and pine  for a  role.” - SAMPURN