Why fear it, Ajay Devgn asks young actors refusing to share screen space

Mumbai: Actor Ajay Devgn says there was never any insecurity in his generation about working with contemporaries, but that does not seem to be the case with the young stars today.

Ajay, who shared the screen space with Aamir Khan in 'Ishq' and worked with Salman Khan in 'Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam', says it is not difficult to shine while standing in a frame with another actor.

Filmmaker Rohit Shetty said his 'Ram Lakhan' remake fell through, because the male actors were insecure about working together.

Ajay, who has worked with Shetty extensively, voices the same concern and believes young actors are taking their work too seriously.

"I don't know why that's happening. You have to ask them (young actors not doing two-hero film). But I think they are taking their career and work too seriously," Ajay told PTI.

"You can stand in a frame with someone and shine. Why fear it? When you shine with somebody, you reach greater heights."

The 'Shivaay' star says the major difference between actors today and his generation is that they never took their work as seriously as the young stars do.

"We never took our work seriously at all. Honestly speaking, for the first 15-20 years of our life, we didn't. I was very lucky that I never had to struggle. But I did work hard. As the industry kept evolving, audience kept changing,our mindset (towards work) also kept changing."

In the '90s, Ajay, 48, would have at least four-five releases a year, but that changed with time. It made him realise that he can't be doing way too many movies at a time.

"There was a point when I was doing too much work. So, I cut down on my work. That's how the whole process started and it became a system with everybody, doing one film at a time."

When the actor began his film journey in the early '90s, there were several star kids already in the industry like Salman Khan, Aamir Khan, and Sanjay Dutt.

But Ajay says he never fought for his space with them as he had not intended to become an actor in the first place.

"I was pushed into acting any which way. My first film started when I didn't want to do it in a way. It was a superhit and there was no looking back after that, no struggle.

"When I look back... In 26 years, I think there must have been one or two years where I didn't have a hit, otherwise if one didn't work, the other did. There was never a low phase."

His current film, 'Baadshaho', is scheduled to release this Friday.