Southhall United is all set to stage a comeback. Buoyed by the "encouraging response" to Goal, director Vivek Agnihotri is all set to continue with the dhan dhana dhan fest.

He claims that the film has held steady in its second week despite muchhyped competition from Yash Raj's Aaja Nachle, and "if it holds its ground through the third weekend, Goal 2 might well be my next project." Agnihotri had earlier planned to make a kiddie SFX flick after the football funtasy.

When asked if the sequel was being planned with Adlabs with whom Agnihotri has just signed a deal, he quipped, "Why would I want to take it to another production house when Ronnie Screwvala is one of the best producers I've worked with?"

No problem
Remind him about talks of disagreements with UTV through the making, with the corporate taking everyone by surprise and announcing that it had recovered its money from endorsements before release, Agnihotri argued, "As a listed company UTV has to make some figures public.

But despite contradictory reports, it's been a smooth partnership. Ronnie had even told me I could snip out the item number if I felt it intruded. But I retained it and it's become very popular in small towns like Bhopal where I am at the moment."

Team spirit
His lead pair, John Abraham and Bipasha Basu went all out to promote the film, not just across the country but in London and Dubai too. And Agnihotri insists the move paid off, particularly in Dubai where "it's opening was second only to Don "

So will Agnihotri go ahead with John-Bipasha in the sequel too or like Raaz 2 opt for a complete change in cast?

"I don't believe in changing a winning team," he asserts.

Does that include Arshad Warsi (who stayed away from the promotion till the nth hour), and Boman Irani (whose performance came in for some amount of criticism)?

"They were a part of team Southhall United, weren't they? So they will be a part of Goal 2 also. The cast will not change but the concept will be fresh. For the sequel to work, we'll have to take it to another level," he states.