"Ab Tak Chhappan" director Shimit Amin is all set to direct his second film for Yash Raj Films, and that too starring Shah Rukh Khan.

"Ab Tak Chhappan" meets "Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge"? Not quite.

"Actually, I had started a film after 'Ab Tak Chhappan' for Ram Gopal Varma called 'Let's Catch Veerappan'. But then Veerappan died; the project was aborted. I left India to go back home to the US. I've family in North Carolina and Los Angeles. And now I'm back to this project," US-bred Amin told IANS.

From Nana Patekar in "Ab Tak Chhappan" to Shah Rukh in Amin's new film - sounds like an interesting leap in style, substance, swagger and stardom.

Apparently Aditya Chopra heard the script and was bowled over.

"All I can say at this point of time is that it's gonna be very, very different in mood and texture from 'Ab Tak Chhappan'. Will it have songs and music? I don't know. It might. I can't say at this point of time."

Knowing Yash Raj Films' penchant for secrecy, Amin seems to be walking on glass.

"No, no," he laughs uncomfortably. "Even if my producers weren't known to be secretive I'd have still been hesitant to discuss my new project. It's all so fresh and incomplete right now."

He has moved on - from the dark mood of Ram Gopal Varma's production factory to the light frothy feel-good ambience of Yash Chopra's cinema. But a leap from Varma to Chopra surely entails a whole lot of readjustment?

"Not really," Shimit corrects me shyly. "If 'Chhappan' reflected Ram Gopal Varma's cinema, I'm sure my film for Yash Raj Films will definitely reflect the new, what you call posh, reality in my creative vision. But it doesn't mean my own individual creativity wouldn't matter.

"Yash Raj Films is like the old studio system in Hollywood in the 1940s and 50s when every production company from Paramount to MGM to Columbia made films that reflected their individual style. And yet every director, be it George Cukor, Michael Curtiz or Vincent Minelli, brought in his own reality.

"I hope to achieve the same synthesis of patented production style and my individual talent for this project for Yash Raj Films."

Amin seems loath to admit he has moved on from Varma's factory-formed vision.

"If you say Yash Raj Films is posh, so is Varma Corporation. Their films reflect a different kind of sophistication and glamour, that's all. 'Ab Tak Chhappan' wasn't a small art house film. It made quite an impact."

Let's see what he achieves for Yash Raj Films when the film, written by Jaideep Sahni, who wrote Ram Gopal Varma's "Company", commences in mid-2006.