Bangkok, Jun 23 (IANS): Actor Gulshan Grover, who is fondly known as the "bad man" in Bollywood, says with mainstream heroes taking up negative characters, roles of villains in Bollywood is now treated with dignity.

Asked how he feels about mainstream actors not having any apprehensions playing negative character on screen, Gulshan told IANS at the green carpet of IIFA Rocks: "Some changes are good because the villain part has now got dignity in Hindi films. It's not looked upon as a secondary part..."

The actor is happy with the portrayal of negative characters on screen.

"The writing part of the gray or negative characters have become far more better, more research has been done in depth but the only thing is the iconic villain from Indian films has disappeared.... the performance have also changed," he said.

He also lauded his "hero friends" who are now portraying "villain roles" on the silver screen.

Talking about his upcoming work, he said: "I am in a tremendous exciting stage in my career as I have a Polish film and another film called 'The Man From Kathmandu'."