Comedy films these days are sub-standard: Om Puri

Veteran Bollywood actor Om Puri, who has starred in many funny films like "Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron" and "Hera Pheri", says present-day Bollywood comedies are full of sub-standard jokes and punches.

"Such movies do not have a proper plot or story and fail to deliver any message to the masses," said Puri while speaking at the Media International Film Festival organized by the Institute of Mass Communication and Media Technology at Kurukshetra University here.

Recalling the days when people from literature and theatre entered Bollywood, the 61-year-old actor said that corporate cinema has become a prominent part of film culture, resulting in the decline of creative movies.

"It was because of them only that cinema had some meaning in the lives of people," he said.

It is a matter of concern for Indian cinema, he added. Puri said that the South Indian film industry was flourishing and their movies were being increasingly translated in various languages and screened across the country, but regional cinema of north and east India is dying a slow death.

"It is the duty of viewers to praise good cinema and criticize the bad ones which will help inspire the producers to produce good movies," he added.

Speaking on the occasion, Leela Samson, Chairperson of Central Board of Film Certification, said that for improving the quality of Indian films, there was need to make amendments in The Cinematograph Act, 1952.

She rued the fact that the Central Board of Film Certification was following a 60-year-old pattern for issuing certificates to the Indian films.