It was craven of Karan Johar to give in to the extortion demand for Ae Dil Hai Mushkil: Naseeruddin Shah

Actors talk too much nowadays. Maybe it is do with the fact that contemporary Hindi films are a big, long picnic. So, it does not make much sense to talk about my journey - running away from home, joining the National School of Drama (NSD) in Delhi to studying acting at Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune.

I think holding an elaborate retrospective of all my bad films would be perfect. And believe me, there are many films that can be included - Tridev, to start with.

Surprisingly, journalists expect me to comment on the 100-crore club. I know the kind of response they expect. Tell me, how are the producers responsible for the content that is being fed to the audiences?

Don't the people realise that the former treat them with contempt? They know the masses will accept nonsense that will be fed to them. Have you not seen Shivaay or Ae Dil Hai Mushkil? People will keep abusing such films, but still stand outside cinema halls to grab a ticket. Such a hopeless situation!

And then there is so much talk about contemporary, low-budget cinema in Indian languages, which seems to be the favourite at all film festivals in the country. Of course, we are witnessing some good films being made by young directors willing to work with different content and adopt new styles, but it is too soon to be optimistic. When the parallel cinema movement of the '80s was at its peak, everyone thought the world of films had changed forever in India.

But see what happened after a few years - everything collapsed and mediocrity peaked. Things have only taken a turn for the worse. Let's not rejoice too soon, and keep our fingers crossed.

Saying anything has suddenly become so dangerous. Not only because we Indians are a touchy lot who take ourselves too seriously and can be offended at the slightest provocation, but also for other reasons. Look at all the uproar over Pakistani film actors working in Indian film industry. So disgusting! The whole issue was uncalled for and unnecessary.

It was really craven of Karan Johar to apologise and give in to the extortion demand when it came to Fawad Khan in Ae Dil Hai Mushkil.

It is so annoying that anyone supporting art across barriers should invite questions over his/her patriotism. When it comes to terrorism, the problem lies with the political and military establishment on the other side of the border, and not the ordinary Pakistani.

I have done several film projects there and staged my plays in Pakistan, and it has always been a warm experience. But wait, how can I say that? Wouldn't I be termed an anti-national then? Wouldn't newspapers make a headline out of this?

By the way, if India's political establishment has such a problem with Pakistan, why not snap all diplomatic relations and stop all business transactions with that country? None of that has happened, right? Why target only artists? Just because they can be hounded easily?

Now let's come to my statement on Twitter wherein I called Rajesh Khanna a poor actor. First things first - I never took that statement back.

Yes, I did apologise to the family for hurting their feelings. However, what I don't really get is the reaction of those who are in no way related to the deceased actor. They seem to be more disturbed than even Dimple Khanna. And what respect are we talking about? What respect did the industry have for him when he ceased to be a moneymaking machine for the producers? He was all-alone in his last years, no?

Coming back to films, I really enjoyed being part of Adhiraj's Bose' long short-film Interior Night Café.

It is an interesting format that keeps in mind the diminishing attention span of the audience. Of course, the problem is that ever since I have done this film, people have started bombarding me with mediocre scripts of short films, thinking I would be open to anything. Many forget that it is a very complicated format - your script has to be powerful enough to say everything in ten minutes.

Frankly, I am too tired of discussions that revolve around "what is a good film". The only thing that matters is truthful cinema. A David Dhawan film's aim is to make you laugh, and you know that. If the movie manages to do that, it is a good one. Period.

(As told to Sukant Deepak)