"I never thought Kambakkht Ishq would turn out to be a massive film. Of course, with Akshay Kumar and Kareena Kapoor in the cast, it was meant to be a big-budget film, but the film grew in size and stature the moment we finished scripting and began casting," Kambakkht Ishq producer Sajid Nadiadwala admits.

There's no denying that everyone's keenly watching Kambakkht Ishq for various reasons. One of the prime reasons being, the film is expected to bail out the industry from its current crisis-ridden situation. The expectations, hence, are huge.

Kambakkht Ishq is helmed by first-time director Sabbir Khan, who has been an apprentice to Mahesh Bhatt and also David Dhawan (during the making of Mujhse Shaadi Karogi). Incidentally, Sajid's last three films have been helmed by debutantes -- Jaan-e-Mann (Shirish Kunder), Heyy Babyy (Sajid Khan) and now, Kambakkht Ishq. "They (newcomers) add so much freshness to a film. They come up with innovative ideas and their approach to work is unadulterated," Sajid explains.

Kambakkht Ishq stars three Hollywood celebrities -- Sylvester Stallone, Brandon Routh and Denise Richards. "Actually, their names cropped up while scripting the movie. Little did we realise then that they would eventually star in the film," the prolific producer admits. Was it tough getting them on board? "A lot of pre-production work and detailing went into it. It took us several months of planning to get them on board," he states.

While Kambakkht Ishq is slated for release next week, Sajid is getting ready to launch three more projects, with Sajid Khan (Housefull), Siddharth Anand (Ranbir-Priyanka starrer isn't titled yet) and Imtiaz Ali.