The 60-year-old actor, whose last releases include `West is West`, `Bin Bulaaye Barati` and `Teen Thay Bhai`, says he does commercial films because they pay well.
"I have played lame characters because I was paid well. It was necessary to do those commercial films in order to live comfortably because art cinema doesn`t pay much money," Puri told reporters.
Puri`s next release is `Khap` which is based on the issue of honour killing. He is playing the character of a Khap `Sarpanch` in it.
"It was important to create awareness against this issue. I wanted to do this film because I feel such films should be made more often.
"Political parties should come forward too. Khap people are strong so our political parties don`t interfere because that may affect their vote bank," he said. The versatile actor is currently shooting for Karan Johar`s `Agneepath` remake with actors Hrithik Roshan and Priyanka Chopra. The film is directed by Karan Malhotra.
"I haven`t watched the old `Agneepath` and I don`t want to watch it also. I want to give a fresh appeal to my positive character of a cop.
"Hrithik has donned the hat of Amitji quite well. So far I have shared two screens together with Hrithik and I must say he`s a very sincere and hardworking actor," Puri said.
Born in a small village in Punjab, Puri is an alumni of National School of Drama (NSD) and began his career with films like `Aakrosh`, `Jaane Bhi Do Yaaraon` and `Ardh Satya`.
He has also ventured into many international projects like `City of Joy`, `East Is East`, `Charlie Wilson`s War`.