A Japanese distributor has expressed interest in the film and discussions about the possibility of its release with Japanese sub-titles would be held shortly, TV anchorperson Saswati Guha Thakurta of Forthright Media and Entertainment, says.

"We have been in touch through e-mail. If things turn out positively he will come by end April to finalise a deal. But things are still at a premature stage," she says.

Asked about the possible audience reaction to his take on male sexual fantasies once it got released in domestic circuit, Ganguly says, "It was not aimed at titillating the masses. But was rather intended to be a serious commentary of traditional notions about sex, beauty and love -- not necessarily in that order.

"You cannot single out a scene that borders on the lurid. It is more of a cerebral kind than physical. The issue more fascinates my imagination, my thinking," he explains.

Besides young actors Kaushik Sen and Churni Ganguly, playing the two leads in the film, the movie has some other familiar Tollywood names in its title credit.

Asked whether it was the festival circuit and the multiplex crowd in cities, he had in mind, Ganguly says on the contrary he wished everyone -- both from the classes and masses -- to see and enjoy his film, based on his own short story published in the literary supplement of a leading vernacular daily.

The young director, one of the few prominent new-age film makers of Bengali cinema making art house films with an urbane feel, says it was also the duty of a film maker to create an audience.

As part of the story four friends visit Khajuraho in Madhya Pradesh to study temple architecture. One of them, the painter and sculptor, comes across a beautiful woman, falls in love and marries her. However when he comes to know that his wife lacks something in her physical beauty he feels shattered with the image of the real woman clashing with the concept of ideal woman in his mind.

"My film celebrates the beauty of women everywhere despite perceived imperfections," Ganguly, who has apparently chosen an unconventional as well as uncomfortable subject for a Bengali film, says.

He says his earlier Bengali film Waris would be screened in Israel film festival in April in the competitive section.

Waris' deals with the theme of the predicament of a woman and her little son who were spurned by the child's biological father as he moved on life and married another woman. The first woman finally "intrudes" into the happy married life of the successful professional in a critical condition, confronting the viewer with many questions.

"I believe there are certain issues confronting women which are universal in nature. In my two films I have delineated on them," Ganguly says.

The upcoming director is now busy giving final touches to another script, this time about environmental issues but is cagey about revealing more.