We were small rungs in the ladder of Amitabh Bachchan's success: Rishi Kapoor

New Delhi: Veteran star Rishi Kapoor says Amitabh Bachchan defined the '70s action era and actors like him were "small rungs" in the ladder of Big B's success.

Recalling the '70s and 80s era, the 64-year-old actor said Bachchan's 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," he said

Rishi, who worked with Bachchan in movies like "Kabhi Kabhie", "Naseeb", "Amar Akbar Anthony" and "Coolie", said Bachchan should have been more forthcoming in crediting the role his co-stars played in his career.

"There would be no 'Sholay' without Dharmendra, no 'Amar Akbar Anthony' without Vinod Khanna and Rishi Kapoor, no 'Deewar' without Shashi Kapoor and no 'Dostana' without Amjad Khan," Rishi said.

"I think we all were the small rungs 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."

Rishi was in-conversation with author Suhel Seth during the launch of his book titled "Khullam Khulla: Rishi Kapoor Uncensored".

The actor, who was in the capital for the launch of the book, said it was a great time when he and his contemporaries would work together in the same film, which he thinks is impossible today.

"...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."