Raj Kapoor walked out of Manoj Kumar’s trial show, declared, ‘I hate you, I don’t want to watch this film’: Ajay Devgn recalls story

Actor Ajay Devgan, and filmmakers Rohit Shetty and Karan Johar reminisced about the good old days on the latest episode of Koffee with Karan. Ajay said that the current generation of film actors is too insecure, and recalled the brotherhood that members of the film industry shared with each other back in the day. He recalled a story narrated to him by his late father, Veeru Devgan, about the bond that directors Manoj Kumar and Raj Kapoor shared.

Asked about the changes that they’ve witnessed the industry undergo over the years, Ajay said, “I’ve heard stories from my dad. In fact, I remember a story, Manoj saab made this film Purab Aur Paschim, and he invited Raj saab for the trial of the film. In the beginning of the film, the British rule gets over, and the Indian flag goes up. As soon as the Indian flag goes up, the film changed into colour; it was black and white (before that). Raj saab got up, walked out, and Manoj saab ran after him, asking, ‘What’s wrong’. Raj saab said, ‘I hate you, I don’t want to watch this film. How could you think of this? I couldn’t think of this. Your film is a superhit, I’m not watching any more’.”

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Karan and Rohit laughed fondly. Karan recalled that his father used to tell him about the strong bond that everybody in the industry used to share, even the major heroes of the day. He pointed out that it’s inconceivable for actors of the current generation to do two-hero films. “They don’t have the security to do solo films also, they take three years to decide what they want to do,” Ajay said.

The actor will next share the screen with a host of A-listers in Rohit Shetty’s Singham Again. The film also stars Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar, Deepika Padukone, Kareena Kapoor and Tiger Shroff. The universe will expand next year with Prime Video’s Indian Police Force, starring Sidharth Malhotra, Shilpa Shetty and Vivek Oberoi.