No actor of Dilip Kumar, Big B, Balraj Sahni's calibre now: Javed Akhtar

Veteran writer-lyricist Javed Akhtar feels the acting standards of this generation have largely improved from earlier eras but still there is no one of the calibre of Dilip Kumar, Amitabh Bachchan or Balraj Sahni "This could be something controversial I say but leave aside actors like Dilip Kumar, Balraj Sahni or Amitabh Bachchan, who were brilliant actors, I don't think that currently there is any actor who is of the standard of these actors," he said at a media interaction during a seminar on Perfecting Indian Cinema in Mumbai recently.

"But the paradox is that by and large, acting standards have clearly improved as compared to previous times. The hamming evident earlier is absent today. Some positive developments have happened but this is also true that you don't have another Amitabh Bachchan, Dilip Kumar or Balraj Sahni," he added.

Akhtar feels in some places things have improved in the industry while it's become worse in some departments. "Perhaps you can say that the writing standard isn't up to what it was previously. It's also true that the clichés, theatrical dialogues are not seen nowadays. The emotional depth now is insufficient and should be more. Earlier, there used to be so much theatrics and ‘Ma' and other kinds of drama, that this generation got so irritated by it and they went on a separate path," he said.