Even as Tamil star Ajith Kumar seemingly has taken a step back from films to race cars, financier and distributor Tiruppur Subramaniam claims it could be more than just that. The financier-distributor states that after the success of Good Bad Ugly, the star’s salary demands have outpaced what the Tamil film industry is currently willing to offer.
Why has Ajith Kumar not signed a new film after Good Bad Ugly?
While Ajith has stayed mum on when fans can expect a new film from him, Subramaniam spoke on the Fine Time Cine YouTube channel about this and said, “Ajith Kumar wants the salary he demands, but who is there in the industry to offer it? There’s almost no one, and we can’t do anything about it. Currently, only Red Giant Studios, AGS Entertainments, Sun Pictures and VELS Entertainments are there in Tamil cinema with a passion for cinema, but they don’t want to take such big risks and are ready for a profit-sharing model.”
Subramaniam also states that the standoff is because Ajith wants a fixed salary, with trade reports claiming it is over ₹110-120 crore, which Kollywood production houses are supposedly willing to pay. “He wants a fixed salary from the production; if not, he is already well-settled and interested in racing. He is earning well even through advertising, but he should consider serving the cinema and making films on a profit-sharing basis with production companies he likes. Then, we will at least get two to three big films from him in Tamil cinema,”
Is the Telugu film industry to blame?
Recently, Gulte also mentioned that an unnamed Tamil producer said that Dil Raju and Mythri Movie Makers paid Vijay and Ajith high remuneration for Varisu and Good Bad Ugly, which put them in a different bracket. They quoted the producer as saying: “This is one of the reasons why Ajith do not have films right now. He will not reduce, and nobody can afford such huge numbers.”
The report also quoted the unnamed producer saying, “There are no more producers in Tamil. We have a couple of corporates who can only afford Vijays and Ajiths. The remaining heroes will do films for their home banners. Other than that, there are no producers. It is not fair to blame only the Telugu annas (brothers). Along with many problems, Telugu annas complicated things for us. The system has killed everyone.”
Ajith last starred in the 2025 films Vidamuyarchi and Good Bad Ugly. While Vidaamuyarchi collected only ₹135.89 crore worldwide, Good Bad Ugly made ₹248.25 crore worldwide.