Bollywood superstars Akshay Kumar and Ajay Devgn were at their candid best on the final day of the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit 2024. On Saturday, the two actors spoke about how the Hindi film industry differs from the four film industries of the South.
Akshay and Ajay at HTLS
In conversation with Sonal Kalra, Chief Managing Editor, Entertainment & Lifestyle, Hindustan Times, Akshay Kumar, actor and producer, and Ajay Devgn, actor, filmmaker and entrepreneur, spoke about the lack of unity in Bollywood.
When asked about the perception that the South film industry—a colloquial term used for Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, and Kannada industries—has more unity than Bollywood and is doing better, Akshay said, “I agree that we don’t have much unity. I don’t know what Ajay thinks.”
Ajay added, “That’s what I think, and that’s what I keep discussing. It’s not about openings, which are a different story together, as a lot of things come into play. But I really appreciate how they (the people in the south industries) come together and stand for each other as an industry, which, honestly speaking, we lack in the Mumbai film industry. I always want that to happen.”
Stars of 90s support each other
Ajay added that the stars who started in the 90s stand for each other and avoid that conflict. “As far as we are concerned, the 4-5 of us who started together in the 90s – me, Akshay, Shah Rukh, Salman, Aamir and others – are not in any kind of struggle or conflict. We are there for each other, and we all know that. You will never see that conflict between us,” he added. Ajay mentioned an example of this collaboration when he showed how Akshay gave him the title ‘Son of Sardaar 2’, which he had the rights to.
Akshay summed it up by saying, “Unity is lacking, respect is lacking, and that is a big thing.”
Ajay and Akshay had a great box office success in Rohit Shetty’s Singham Again. Ajay starred in the film in the titular role, while Akshay had an extended cameo. The film has earned over ₹300 crore at the worldwide box office.
