By Manissha Despaande, Bollywood Trade News Bureau

Himanshu Mallik's career is on a roll. The actor, who is best remembered for his passionate kisses in KHWAISH, has got three releases lined up in the coming two months, Amol Shetge's RAIN, the long-awaited JACKPOT and Balaji Films' KOI APSA, in which he plays the second lead to Aftab Shivdasani. The film he is very excited about though is RAIN, in which he is paired for the second time with the sizzling Meghna Naidu. Mallik insists that his role is a far cry from the one he played in KHWAISH. "The film does have its share of intimate scenes but it is definitely on a different track. It is basically about two complex characters each with their own strengths and weaknesses. The boy's character is driven by psychological weaknesses whereas the girl is blind and has a phobia about the rain. It is an extremely gripping story. Amol has a phenomenal hold on writing the screenplay, which is one of the best aspects of RAIN," Mallik reveals.

When he is asked about how he would rate the experience of working with Mallika Sherawat and Meghna Naidu, both known for their oomph and sex appeal, Mallik is quick in denouncing the former. "I would rather not go through the torture of working with a Mallika Sherawat again for all her sex-appeal and the media image, she has managed to build up around her. She's not a comfortable person to work with. I am happy for her that she has managed to draw attention to herself, not so much through her performance as the ridiculous comments she makes. Mallika is more of a newspaper star but I would like to see how long she plays up to her media-made image. Some day her acting potential is sure to come up for testing," he says, rather cryptically.

Is he envious about Mallika's success? "That's what some people think when I voice my opinion but I had never aspired for what Mallika has achieved in her career so far," he says.

Well, Meghna for one is definitely in Mallik's good books. "I definitely don't endorse some of the films that Meghna has done but she's a very good person at heart and she has this great quality of being herself. She's the same person from within and outside, which makes it easier to relate to her. Working with Meghna is any day a better experience than Mallika," he says.