Rishi Kapoor heaped praise on Amitabh Bachchan, saying the megastar is one of the greatest actors in the country.

Recalling the ’70s and 80s era, the 64-year-old actor said Bachchan was an epitome of great acting during their time and he and his other co-stars were all just trying hard to follow in his footsteps.

“Amitabh Bachchan is the greatest actor that we have in the country. He changed the whole trend of early 70s. Action era started with him. There were a lot of actors who became jobless then,” Kapoor said.

The actor was in-conversation with author Suhel Seth, where he talked about his success as a romantic hero in an era occupied by the trend of action films by Bachchan.

“With my entry as a young boy of 21 that really changed the scenario as such that a real college going hero was on the scene. The secret of my success has been my passion for films.

“I am extremely passionate about my work. I feel that passion for acting is what is the most important to achieve success,” he said.

Kapoor has worked with Bachchan, 74, in films like “Kabhi Kabhie”, “Amar Akbar Anthony”, “Naseeb” and “Coolie”.

He said when he and his co-aged actors were busy establishing their identities in the Hindi cinema, Bachchan by the time became one of the top stars in the country and that he was never there in the race with them.

“I think that we all were the small runs in the ladder of his (Bachchan) great success because he was getting the topmost roles and we were sporting enough to work in those films.”

The actor, who was in the capital for the launch of his book titled “Khullam Khulla: Rishi Kapoor Uncensored”, said it was a great time when he and his contemporaries would work together in the same film, which he thinks is rare to find nowadays.

“…Those were great times, today where do we find Akshay (Kumar) and all Khans working with each other as it’s just not economically viable. You can’t afford two big actors in today’s time. They are too expensive.”