The reason? Amitabh Bachchan. I had occasion to meet the star not two days ago, on the sets of Suneel Darshan's Ek Rishta -- A Bond Of Love

Amitabh today has reached heights of stardom very few achieve. His restrained, but power-packed, acting in Mohabbatein has won him a lot of accolades even as compliments still keep pouring in steadily after over 50 episodes of Kaun Banega Crorepati.

Today, Bachchan is thrilled with the working styles of directors like Aditya Chopra and Karan Johar.

He remarks, "The system of bound scripts had become history after Javed Akhtar. But these talented filmmakers have brought that much-needed system back to Hindi films. You don't know how useful a bound script is for us actors. We can prepare for the day's shooting while travelling to the sets."

Taking a trip down memory lane, the superstar said, "After a few films with Salim-Javed, I stopped insisting on the complete script. I would to hear a broad narration of my role before signing a film because they knew what was best for me.

"Now again, the era of bound scripts has come. And I, for one, am thrilled. Would you believe, for all the films I am now working on, except one with David Dhawan, I have ready scripts from the directors."

When Sooraj Barjatya approached him for Main Prem Ki Deewani Hoon, Amitabh reveals, "Sooraj wanted me, Jaya and Abhishek to hear it jointly. I tell you, it is fabulous. That boy is incredible. He gave us a complete narration, even sang the songs for us!"

So Abhishek will act in it? "Yes, the film will star Abhishek, Hrithik and Kareena Kapoor."

He recalls the time Aditya Chopra had narrated Mohabbatein: "At that time, before he started the film, Aditya was aware that people might object to the fact that why I was the way I was was not established. Why was Narayan Shankar so much against love?

"But he told me, 'I don't want to show your past.'

"And went on to explain to me why I was like that by telling me that my wife, whom I loved dearly, had died, which had had shaken my confidence in love completely. Aditya didn't want that to be part of the film. He feared it would look too clichéd. What I mean to say is that, omitting my past or background was not an error. It was intentional."

Another thing that greatly impressed Amitabh was that even before Mohabbatein was launched, Aditya knew exactly how he would promote his film, how the trailer would begin, what it would show, what it wouldn't.

Efforts are definitely on to revive his company, ABCL. How would Amitabh ensure that the mistakes of the past were not repeated?

"To begin with," he explains, "we'll go slow this time. We will choose only selected things at a time and not try to put our fingers in too many enterprises. We will start with just film production.

"Second, the reins of the country vests with us and not give cent per cent control to people appointed by us."

ABCL will produce two films, one starring Aamir Khan and the other starring Bachchan Sr and Jr with Mrs Bachchan. The latter will be directed by Rakesh Mehra, who is currently directing Aks with Amitabh.

He also reveals that the Sahara Group is seriously contemplating taking over the control of several cinemas in Uttar Pradesh. Bachchan happens to be a director of the Sahara Group.

I happened to ask him whether he was Net savvy. "I do surf the Net at times, though I'm not very savvy. I have my site on www.jalwa.com, but nobody wants to come and see what it offers," he jokes.

"There are just two hits every day, one by the person who has made the site and the other, by me."

This bit of joke he also shares with costar Juhi Chawla who informs that www.srkworld.com, the site launched by Shah Rukh Khan recently, gets a million hits every day.

I leave the two with Bachchan prodding Juhi, "Will you please visit my site today? Promise? Then we'll have three hits on a single day for the first time ever!" he says with a straight face even as Juhi giggles away.

A look at the week