By Subhash K Jha

Mumbai, March 7 (IANS) The young protagonist of his film "Thanks Maa" is a Salman Khan fan and the movie has several posters of the actor as well. Now director Irfan Kamal is very keen that Salman watch his film as he is so important to the theme.

"In fact Salman plays a very important role in the film... Shams Patel's character is a big fan and we see posters of Salman's films like 'Tere Naam' and 'Saawariya' throughout the film. Considering how important Salman is to the theme, I badly wanted to show my film to him. But he is too busy," said Irfan.

Irfan struggled for more than three years to put together his story of a street kid's search for an infant's mother. And his young lead actor won the best child artist National Award for his performance in "Thanks Maa".

"When I wrote 'Thanks Maa', the first person I narrated it to was Salman. He was very excited about the film then. I don't know what happened after that. Salman's father Salim Khan Saab has seen the film. But not Salman," the director said.

Shams, the lead actor, is a fan of the star in real life and he too wants Salman to watch his film.

"I play Salman's fan in the film and I'm his biggest fan in real life. I really want him to watch the film," Shams said.

Considering Irfan is the son of legendary choreographer Master Kamal, who made glam queens of the 1960s and 70s dance to his tunes, the least he expected was the bigwigs of the industry to take note of the film.

Trying not to sound bitter Irfan said: "I've knocked on every A-lister's door in our industry. Let alone help my small film in reaching out to the audience no one has even agreed to see my film except Shabana Azmi, Javed Akhtar and David Dhawan.

"But it's ok. I'm not bitter. Of course my father was a very important part of this film industry. But why should I be granted any favours because of my father? I want my film to be judged on its own merits. But for that to happen people have to watch the film," he added.