Sushmita's performance in Sholay has Ramu stunned

There's a new and absolutely irreversible mutual -admiration club brewing between Ram Gopal Varma and Sushmita Sen on the sets of Sholay.

So taken up is the prolific director with Sushmita's performance as the widow Devi (The role that Jaya Bachchan played in the original Sholay) that he intends to cast her again as soon as he finds the right vehicle for her.

Says Ramu, "I always knew Sushmita was a superb actress. She has immense intelligence and she understands the medium fully. Now directing her I feel she has brought to the widow's role the kind of quiet wisdom and sensitivity which I've never seen before. Sushmita's scenes with her screen brother-in-law Mohanlal are among the highlights of Sholay. So far she has mostly played talkative characters. But Sholay prove silences are Sushmita's forte."

Sushmita is equally enthused by Ramu's work-modalities. "It's a dream-come-true for me. Working with him is like finally being directed. I just love that man's creative energy. Ramu is one director I've waited to work with him. I've pestered him repeatedly to work together. Even when I was doing Vaastu Shastra for his production house I told Ramu that's not what I wanted. I wanted to be directed by him. Now I finally have a chance to be directed by him in Sholay. I could write a book on the way Ramu deals with actors. It's amazing. He has a unit of hundreds of people and he knows only one guy's name on the set. That's how focused he is. That one guy has to know exactly what Ramu wants from all the others on the set."

And now Ramu is looking for the first opportunity to cast Sushmita again. "The problem is that she can't be cast in any ordinary role."