New Delhi, Aug 6 - Signing on full-time comedians for films is passe -- new age cinema now has mainstream actors like Akshay Kumar, Shreyas Talpade, Arshad Warsi and Riteish Deshmukh take on the funny man's mantle apart from doing the hero's job of dancing, romancing the heroine and doing stunts.

Think of Bollywood comedians and a list of veterans like Mahmood, Asrani, Tuntun, Keshto Mukherjee, Johnny Walker, Jagdeep and Johnny Lever comes to mind. The actors were primarily roped in by filmmakers to inject the comic factor into movies.

But now heroes seem to have taken over the comedian's role as well. And leading the brigade is A-lister Akshay Kumar, who entered films as an action hero but has lately been trying to make audiences laugh.

'I don't want to get into logical films... I'm happy doing films where one can keep discussions around logic at home...I'm a clown...Once a clown, always a clown,' Akshay had told IANS.

The star has acted in a string of comedies like 'Welcome', 'Singh Is Kinng', 'Chandni Chowk To China' and 'Kambakkht Ishq'.

'Earlier movies were stereotypes and were slotted with a mother, a hero, a villain, a comedian, etc., because people wanted that...they didn't expect the hero to be a comedian, as there was no appetite for comedy,' film critic Omar Qureshi told IANS over phone from Mumbai.

'But today audiences are more mature and want a good laugh and comedy is something that is working at the moment... So every actor wants to do something that's in. Hence Aamir (Khan), Akshay, Shah Rukh (Khan)...everyone is into comedy,' he added.

Writer-director Neeraj Vora echoed: 'Previously heroes were supposed to be larger than life. But thanks to Mr. (Amitabh) Bachchan and his films, the character started becoming more human and the trend was all over.'

Megastar Amitabh shed his angry-man image with comic punches in films like 'Hera Pheri', 'Amar Akbar Anthony', 'Satte Pe Satta', 'Mr. Natwarlal', 'Do Aur Do Paanch' and 'Namak Halaal'.

Superstars Shah Rukh, Aamir and Salman Khan have also explored their funny side in films. While Shah Rukh gave fans a few laughs in 'Yes Boss', 'Duplicate' and 'Baadshah', Aamir showed his comic skills in 'Andaaz Apna Apna', 'Rangeela' and 'Ishq'.