Mumbai: After composing music for many evergreen numbers and lending his voice to numerous soulful songs, Bappi Lahiri is all geared up to change tracks and present himself as an actor and a film director.

This year Lahiri would be seen acting in at least two Hindi films, one of them a big-budget. He also has plans to direct a film next year.

"I have always been experimenting in Bollywood. I started off the disco culture in the country. Many people are now bringing international artistes like Kylie Minogue to India, but I brought Samantha Fox years ago.

So why is the man popularly known as '''Bappida' exploring new grounds after tasting success as a musician? "Previously, I had also produced a Bengali film, 'Lal Dorja', which won a Golden Lotus Award. Since I have stayed in the industry since the seventies, I want to experiment further," he says.

In the upcoming romantic comedy 'Main aur Mrs Khanna', he plays an NRI tycoon, who happens to be a music lover.

"You have already seen a glimpse of my acting in a cold drink advertisement, which is a huge hit. Now you will soon see me in a full-fledged role in 'Main aur Mrs Khanna', where I am cast alongside Salman Khan and Kareena Kapoor," Lahiri, told in an interview.

On the other hand, in 'Its Rocking Dard-e-Disco', which stars Bengali actress Rituparna Sengupta, Sneha Ullal and Aryaman, he is playing a 'Disco King'. "I will make you laugh like anything in that film. My role is completely comic. I have done it in the style of Kishore 'mama'," he says.

On his plans to don the directors hat, Bappida reveals, "Yes, I want to be a film director. I am planning to start shooting for the film in 2010. But I am not going to make a commercial film; it will be an art film. We are, however, still working on the storyline." The man with the 'Golden Bling' says his love affair with gold ornaments has helped him to carve out a niche of his own when it comes to style.

"You see, gold is in my image. I am known as the golden man. If I don't wear these golden chains and other ornaments, peo