Can films churned out of Bollywood make “the grade”? In other words are they good enough to win international awards? Clearly not, judging by the complete lack of anything Bollywood in the Oscar nominations (if you don’t count Deepa Mehta’s Water).

That did not escape the notice of acclaimed actor Naseeruddin Shah, who told BBC Asian Network’s Inderpreet Sahota last week that, essentially, Bollywood films were crap.

“I really don’t think we make films that can match those from other parts of the world. And I am not referring to Hollywood - we make copies of Hollywood,” he added. Comparing Bollywood to other film industries, Mr Shah said: “We can’t match the types of films made in Iran for example, Poland, Japan, Mexico or Brazil, Vietnam or Korea.

“These countries are producing the most incredible movies and we are still plodding on with our boy-meets-girl safe, old formula. That is the reason I think our films aren’t taken seriously”.

No mincing of words there then.