Ajay Devgn reveals dad Veeru ran away at 13 and became a gangster, was discovered during street fight: ‘It’s not an easy story’

On Koffee with Karan, Ajay Devgn and Karan Johar reflected on the struggles of their fathers, action director Veeru Devgan and film producer Yash Johar.

Amitabh Bachchan with Veeru Devgan (left) and Ajay Devgn. (Photo: Express Archives)

On the latest episode of Koffee with Karan, actor Ajay Devgn opened up about the hardships that his father, the late action director Veeru Devgan, faced in his life. He said that his father was a member of a street gang, and was spotted fighting on the street by a senior action director, who took him under his wing. On the same episode, Karan said that his own father, the late Yash Johar, would have found the nepotism debate laughable, because he knows the struggles he had to experience in order to give Karan a bright future.

Asked if his father got the appreciation that he deserved, Ajay said, “Eventually, yes. He ran away from his home in Punjab when he was just 13. He came to Mumbai without a train ticket, was put behind bars, had no work, no food. Somebody helped him out, said that if he washes his cab, my father could sleep in it. He started from there, and eventually became a carpenter, and then a gangster in Sion Koliwada. They had gangs at that time, and gang wars.” Karan remarked, “Oh, god!”

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Ajay continued, “One day, a very senior action director, Mr Ravi Khanna, he was passing by, and there was a street fight going on. He stopped the car, and he called my dad after the fight. He said, ‘What do you do?’ My dad said he’s a carpenter, and Mr Khanna said a very nice line; he said, ‘Tu ladta acha hai, come meet me tomorrow’. He made him a fighter.” Director Rohit Shetty, who was also a guest on the show, said that his father had a ‘similar’ story as well. Rohit said that his father came to Mumbai as a 13-year-old, and began working at a restaurant as a waiter; he then started bodybuilding, and was hired by a senior action director because of his height. Rohit’s father is the late action master MB Shetty.

Ajay added, “Today, you go on social media and read so many things about nepotism. But people don’t realise the generations have worked very hard to reach till here. It’s not an easy story.” Karan jumped in with a story about his own father, and said, “My father would have laughed if he heard they called me the flagbearer of nepotism. My father had such a tough time to get where he was. He was a production controller, and then he became a producer, and so many of his films failed. I remember my mother selling jewellery, my nani’s apartment…”

Karan recalled that his father would get invited to film premieres, but wouldn’t go because they would offer him front-row seats, which was seen as a mark of disrespect. Major movie stars that his father worked with wouldn’t invite him to their parties after one of his films flopped. Karan’s father died in 2004; Rohit’s dad passed away in 1982, and Veeru Devgan died in 2019.

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