He is among the few forerunners of the ''middle-of-the-road'' cinema in the new millennium, with a body of films which have earned box-office success and critical acclaim in equal measure.

Among the few pioneers of the 'New Wave' cinema with pathbreaking ventures like 'Hyderabad Blues', '3 Deewarein', 'Iqbal' and 'Dor', Nagesh Kukunoor, however, laments the absence of good scriptwriters in the film industry in the current scenario.

''We have completely lost the tradition of scriptwriting in India. In fact, we just do not have scriptwriting as a legitimate profession, '' says Nagesh, who has written for all his films - from his debut venture 'Hyderabad Blues' to the latest 'Dor' to his forthcoming 'Aashayen' himself.

Talking to during a recent visit to the Capital city, Nagesh said, ''in the present scenario in the industry, a scriptwriter is one, who is just brought on as an adjunct. Gone are the days of writers like Javed Akhtar and Salim Khan, popularly known as Salim Javed. They would actually headline a story and people would come to watch the film.

Unfortunately, today a scriptwriter in Bollywood is an insignificant piece in the set-up while a movie is beig made.

No wonder, most scriptwriters in India end up being the directors themselves.'' He said the absence of good scriptwriters was the reason why he had written the script himself for all his films.

''When I asked many scriptwriters to show me what they have written, they give me a treatment of four or five pages. I tell them I don't want to put in the effort to realise their stories. I have got a lot of stories of my own.

''If I can write a 100-page story with dialogues, stage directions and camera description then why not do a story which I have in my mind. If you are bringing me a story, bring it to me in a proper film script form which is a bound script - the way it is in the West, ''Nagesh said.