Akshay Kumar and Ajay Devgn were guests on Saturday evening for the third and final day of the annual Hindustan Times Leadership Summit. In a candid conversation, they discussed the shifting dynamics of the entertainment industry, soaring star remunerations, and Bollywood lacking unity.

Here are the highlights from the engaging session.

Bollywood lacks unity

During the conversation, they were 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. To this, Akshay responded, "I agree that we don't have much unity. I don't know what Ajay thinks." Ajay shared, “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.”

Ajay continued, “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.” To this, Akshay added, “Unity is lacking, respect is lacking, and that is a big thing."

Akshay Kumar’s return to Indian citizenship

Akshay Kumar also talked about his return to Indian citizenship after renouncing his Canadian passport. When a fan asked Akshay if he must have had the special foresight of a sage to see that India's relationship with Canada was going to sour, Akshay laughed and said, “Not any baba, it was the blessings of my parents. Main chup chaap nikal gaya (I left without making noise)."

He added, “I am an Indian from my mind, from my heart and from my soul. That will always be. So I never cared about that. But about 3-4 years back, I had said on this stage that I will give it up. It took some time and last year, exactly on 14th or 15th August, I got my passport.”

Ajay Devgn and Akshay Kumar to work together

Ajay Devgn surprised the audience at the summit when he announced his next project with Akshay Kumar. Talking about their collaboration. Ajay said, “This is something we were going to announce later, but I think this is a great platform. We are already working on something together where I am directing the film and he is in the film.”

Escalating fees of stars

The actors also touched upon the issue of rising star’s fees and the debate that it adds to the budget of the film during the conversation. Ajay said, "The actors charge according to scripts, films, and projects. And most of us are charging according to recoveries." Akshay agreed to it, and added, “I agree with most of what he said. If we sign a film today, we don't charge anything; we just take a stake. If it works, we get a share in the profit, but if it doesn't, we don't get any money." He explained that a share in the profit means that actors are rewarded for successes and penalised for failures.

A politician who can become an actor

Amid the serious topics, there was a fun round of quick questions. When asked who could become a good actor among politicians, Akshay Kumar without hesitation replied: “Arvind Kejriwal.” He was quick to add that he meant it as a compliment.

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