Ajay Devgn talks on his tussle with YRF

Whenever we speak of the Mumbai film industry the image we conjure up is that of a happy family where differences are always resolved amicably in-house. But it seems corporatization and the huge stakes (business of hundred of crores) involved have made this camaraderie disappear. No wonder superstar actor cum producer Ajay Devgn has moved to the Competition Commission of India against Yashraj Films for monopolizing screens for their upcoming film Jab Tak Hai Jaan (Shah Rukh Khan, Katrina Kaif and Anushka Sharma) which also releases on the same day (13 November 2012) with Devgn’s Son of Sardaar (also starring Sanjay Dutt and Sonakshi Sinha). An emotional Ajay shared with Movie Chakkar, “We moved court only as a last resort. Certain good meaning people also tried to mediate but things did not reach anywhere as somebody just does not want to listen (did he mean Aditya Chopra?).” Here Ajay added that, “we are only asking for a level playing field which is our right.” “They have virtually taken over the exhibitor market e.g. out of five single screens in Dadar (an area in Mumbai) they have three.” Point to the response of YRF to their notice that there are large numbers of theaters which are not locked and Ajay fired back saying, “This is a falsehood they also know that most of those screens are in the south and they don’t telecast Hindi movies”. He also went on to state that, “this decision to move court was not something that was done after Yash ji’s (Chopra’s) death.” “We had been preparing for it for past three months as it takes time to get the concerned documents ready. It is just unfortunate that it happened around Yash ji’s death. I am just being made a scapegoat. I am a guy who does not believe in publicity. The current situation was such that dammed if I do and damned if I don’t.” Ask about suggestion to move his film’s release date ahead as a possible way out and he said, “It’s not practical. I was ready but I had a simple request that if I do so everybody else including Aamir Khan’s Talaash and Akshay Kumar Khiladi 786 should do it as well. But nobody was ready to budge and all were only expecting me to do make the supreme sacrifice.” Could it not have pushed it to 23 November (which is a week before Talaash hits the theaters) and he averred, “It would not have served any purpose for they have blocked screens for two weeks.” When asked whether YRF was scared of his film, he stated, “All this started only after the first promo of my film was aired and it created a great deal of buzz. I further wish to assert that this action of mine will be hailed not now but later for many others are also getting shortchanged. I today came to know of a producer of hit Marathi film who was forced to take his print out when Ek Tha Tiger had released.” In closing, we asked if this will affect his relations with Shah Rukh Khan and he said, “No these things go beyond him and it is tussle between respective producers.” he latest development is that Ajay Devgn’s complaint against YRF has been rejected by the Competition Commission of India.