By Priyanka Sharma

New Delhi, April 13 (IANS) He has been in the television industry for almost two decades and has shows like "Tara" and "Swabhimaan" to his credit, but actor Harsh Chhaya believes that over the years the industry has become more money-oriented and lacks strong content."Far more quality work used to happen earlier. The stories on small screen have now become very much filmy, with a girl and a boy. The rest of the people are like cardboard characters," Harsh told IANS in a telephonic interview from Mumbai.

"Even characters have become stale now. You will see two actors almost of the same age playing father and son on the small screen. Why can't characters be cast according to age?" he asked.

The actor feels the content on television lacks gravity.

"The kind of serials that are being shown on television today lack gravity because the makers don't get enough time to think about the script, the implementation and how it should be portrayed by the characters. It is more of a moneymaking industry now," he said.

"They want directors who can churn out as many episodes as they can at one go, no matter how," he added.

Last seen in Sony TV's "Ladies Special" in 2009, Harsh is back on the small screen again with the same channel's new show "Surya: The Supercop", where he plays a blind cop.

"Playing a blind person was not very difficult as I had already been through the experience of playing a blind character like this years ago. My first professional assignment was a blind character.

"Around that time, I was in Delhi...I visited a Blind Relief Association there and spent some time with visually-handicapped people; so I believe my experience at that time is helping me for this role. I am happy it is something different and not like other stale characters," he said.

Apart from television, Harsh has also made a place for himself in Bollywood with films like "Corporate", "Bheja Fry", "Mithya" and "Fashion", most of them offbeat movies. He is currently busy shooting for a Bengali film.

"There's no work for actors like us in hardcore commercial cinema. Even if we are a part of it, we are nothing more than just extras. The kind of offers I have been receiving are not very appealing and I can't do roles where I can't manage to hold myself," he said.

Apart from being an actor, Harsh also has a flair for writing and is working on a 100-page book of short stories.