Ashok Kumar and Balraj Sahni were both as good actors as Dilip or Amitabh...But in films popularity and the success of films also plays a major role and become the yardstick for measuring greatness !
When histrionic excellence is taken in to consideration, Nasiruddin Shaw should not be kept aside. In fact all those who entered through IPTA are highly talented.
Very true,it is a pity that such sensitive and path breaking films are not made now and what we get is the same noise and fast paced action movies , easily forgotten !
Gulzar too was a great filmmaker who made classics like Aandhi, Khushboo, Kinara and Machis ..