Big stars on hit list of talented directors: Puri

He has acted in some of the greatest films but veteran actor Om Puri rues the fact that talented directors now opt for only big stars.

The 60-year-old actor, whose last releases include 'West is West', 'Bin Bulaaye Barati' and 'Teen Thay Bhai', says he does commercial films because they pay well.

"I have played lame characters because I was paid well. It was necessary to do those commercial films in order to live comfortably because art cinema doesn't pay much money," Puri said.

"I love to do issue based films and the directors like Prakash Jha, Vishal Bharadwaj, Vidhu Vinod Chopra and Raj Kumar Santoshi who make such films write their scripts only for the stars," the national-award-winning actor said.

Puri's next release is 'Khap' which is based on the issue of honour killing. He is playing the character of a Khap 'Sarpanch' in it.

"It was important to create awareness against this issue. I wanted to do this film because I feel such films should be made more often.

"Political parties should come forward too. Khap people are strong so our political parties don't interfere because that may affect their vote bank," he said.

The versatile actor is currently shooting for Karan Johar's 'Agneepath' remake with actors Hrithik Roshan and Priyanka Chopra. The film is directed by Karan Malhotra.

"I haven't watched the old 'Agneepath' and I don'twant to watch it also. I want to give a fresh appeal to my positive character of a cop.

"Hrithik has donned the hat of Amitji quite well. So far I have shared two screens together with Hrithik and I must say he's a very sincere and hardworking actor," Puri said.

Born in a small village in Punjab, Puri is an alumni of National School of Drama (NSD) and began his career with films like 'Aakrosh', 'Jaane Bhi Do Yaaraon' and 'Ardh Satya'. He has also ventured into many international projects like 'City of Joy', 'East Is East', 'Charlie Wilson's War'.