But things have changed, for the better, with his last film Life…In A Metro emerging a box-office winner in 2007. The man of modest films has now shot to Bollywood’s big league, and is all set to direct Hindi films’ most sought-after star — Hrithik Roshan — in the actor’s home production Kites. “Rakesh Roshan loved Gangster. He had an idea, and he wanted me to turn it into a screenplay,” says Basu.

As expected, in sharp contrast to his earlier movies, this one will be mounted on a huge canvas, and shot across Los Angeles, Las Vegas and New Mexico. To make it more glamorous, the Roshans have even roped in Latin American actor Barbara Mori as Hrithik’s heroine.

Basu, who debuted on the big screen with Kucch To Hai in 2003, is known to tackle themes of dark passion and adultery. His movies Murder, Gangster and Metro challenged the industry’s conventional formula of success and went on to become big hits. “It’s because of the multiplex phenomenon that we could move away from the established norms,” says Basu.

While the so-called elite urban audience has made Basu successful, he is now eager to appeal to a larger audience. “I want Kites to work in small towns as well. I was deeply hurt that Metro didn’t work in my hometown Bhilai (in Bihar),” says the director, who started his dalliance with Mumbai’s dream industry in 1996, with a television series.

It took him a few more years to be noted by the Bhatt camp, for whom he made Saaya and subsequently Murder and Gangster. A few months ago, Basu reportedly walked out of Suicide Bomber, which he was supposed to direct for Bhatt’s Vishesh Films. “I did not walk out. There was no time to direct it. The Bhatts are still like family,” he says.