Music composer Vishal Bhardwaj is now playing a different tune - with the megaphone.

Bhardwaj, whose tunes in "Maachis" and "Satya" set the charts ablaze with a new sound, has set his career as a music composer behind him.

First "Makdee" and then "Maqbool" fetched him tremendous acclaim and success as a filmmaker.

"It was way beyond anything I ever expected. 'Maqbool' especially has been a turning point in my career as a filmmaker. It not only put me on the map as a moviemaker, but also brought back the immensely talented Pankaj Kapoor in the forefront. And now I'm happy to have worked with Pankaj in my third feature film," he told IANS.

Bhardwaj has just completed a screen adaptation of Ruskin Bond's "The Blue Umbrella" with Pankaj Kapoor and child artiste Shreya Sharma. He had worked wonders earlier with another little girl - Shweta Prasad - in "Makdee".

"I love working with kids. I've a growing son Aasman and I know how impressionable minds work."

Like his dad, Aasman has three career options: music, cricket and filmmaking. "Aasman is crazy about all three," says Vishal.

And what's the proud papa making next? Is it a film featuring the mighty Amitabh Bachchan with Aamir Khan? Vishal denies the report.

"I don't know where that came from. I'm certainly not making a film with the two of them together. Meri auqat kahan? (I'm not capable of this). I'm working on a script for Bachchan Saab that I'll definitely make later. Right now, I've finalized my next script for Aamir Khan. He has given his nod. We start shooting from August next year."

Why so late? "Aamir is busy with Rakesh Mehra's 'Rang De Basanti'. He then goes into Kunal Kohli's film. Then he'll do my film. He does only one film at a time."

What kind of a film will it be? "It's a romantic comedy. Very different from anything Aamir or I have done so far."

And what happened to Bhardwaj's plans to make an India-Pakistan love story "Barf" with Sushmita Sen and Manoj Bajpai?

"Too late. Too much has been said and done on across-the-border relations.

'Barf' is passé now," he says frankly.

Bhardwaj promises he hasn't given up composing music. "In fact, I've just done the music score in a comedy called 'Ramji Londonwale'. That's because Madhavan, who plays the lead in the film, insisted that I do the needful.  Music still remains my first love. Sometimes one just has to forget one's first love and marry another beloved. Filmmaking is now my abiding passion," he maintains.