Hrithik Roshan and his thronging fan club are waiting with bated breath for the July 27 release of Subhash Ghai's Yaadein, the first film this year to feature the Bollywood heartthrob.

"The story revolves round Jackie Shroff's character. But I have lots to do in the film," Hrithik promises his fans, who were disappointed at his short roles in Fiza and Mission Kashmir - his last two releases after his superhit debut in Kaho Na... Pyar Hai.

Hrithik's role in Yaadein, however, is not pivotal to the plot and the actor claims it never was to begin with. But seeing his steep rise to super stardom, Ghai reportedly rewrote the script to offer much more of Hrithik in the narration. The actor plays the suitor for a girl in a family of three daughters.

A minor disaster struck Yaadein's post-production work when about a month of Hrithik's dubbing work was erased from the soundtrack. "I had to do 30 days' dubbing in less than a week," says the actor, whose biggest problem these days is an acute shortage of time.

Hrithik is all praise for Ghai. "Working with Subhash Ghai has made me a more spontaneous actor. Everything I've done in Yaadein is completely off-the-cuff. Now, after Yaadein, I can give completely unrehearsed performances if I have to," he says.

Yaadein is crucial on another count. It brings together the two most promising young stars in Bollywood -- Hrithik and Kareena Kapoor -- for the first time. They have several films together in the future, including Karan Johar's Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham and Sooraj Barjatya's Main Prem Ki Deewani Hoon.

Says Hrithik, "The audience will decide whether we click as a pair or not. But I always like working with Kareena. I love to work with spontaneous actors."

Having won a record number of awards for his performance in Kaho Na...Pyar Hai -- including some at the recently concluded International Indian Film Awards in Sun City, Hrithik feels the importance of the awards has been diminished by their huge quantity.

"I've begun to feel I've won too many awards for the amount of work I put into Kaho Na...Pyar Hai. I don't think I deserved so many awards. I think I got them only because I was the most popular actor of 2000. Can any jury member get up and honestly say that my performance was better than other nominees like Kamal Haasan in Hey Ram, Shah Rukh Khan in Mohabbatein and Sanjay Dutt in Mission Kashmir? I think all these performances were better than mine."

Hrithik has signed no new project except Ramesh Sippy's new film with Aishwarya Rai and his father Rakesh Roshan's Koi Mil Gaya with Preity Zinta. Says Hrithik, "I have a really challenging and unusual role in my father's film. I need to prepare to play the part. But where's the time?"