--- title: 'Mohanlal Salary Row Leaves Ajith Kumar’s Dare Devil Recasting' type: 'blog post' section: 'Away From Set' format: 'Editorial feature' standfirst: 'A report says Mohanlal is no longer part of Ajith Kumar’s Dare Devil after a pay disagreement. The change lands just as the film is being lined up for a possible September shoot.' author: 'Marcus Reid' published: '2026-08-27' updated: '2026-08-27' about_people: - 'Ajith Kumar' tags: - 'Ajith Kumar Dare Devil Mohanlal exit' - 'Dare Devil salary disagreement report' - 'Ajith Kumar Adhik Ravichandran AK64' - 'Shalini Ajithkumar Brave Hearts Productions' - 'Dare Devil September shoot update' - 'Ajith Kumar Shankar film report' sources: - 'https://www.msn.com/en-in/news/other/remuneration-row-costs-dare-devil-a-superstar/ar-AA2amxsS' - 'https://www.pinkvilla.com/entertainment/south/ajith-kumar-to-work-with-director-shankar-after-dare-devil-and-mankatha-2-heres-what-we-know-1404810' canonical: 'https://cinepixo.com/blog/mohanlal-salary-row-leaves-ajith-kumars-dare-devil-recasting' publisher: 'CinePixo' --- # Mohanlal Salary Row Leaves Ajith Kumar’s Dare Devil Recasting *A report says Mohanlal is no longer part of Ajith Kumar’s Dare Devil after a pay disagreement. The change lands just as the film is being lined up for a possible September shoot.* By Marcus Reid, 2026-08-27 · Away From Set MSN carried a report saying Mohanlal will no longer be part of Ajith Kumar’s Dare Devil because of a salary disagreement, a casting change that matters because this is not a small name slipping off a call sheet. Mohanlal would have brought a whole room with him: Malayali viewers, older filmgoers, and the quiet charge that comes when one major star stands across from another. Pinkvilla reported on Aug. 10, 2026, that Mohanlal was among the names being discussed for the cast, while the film itself is being set up as Ajith Kumar’s next with director Adhik Ravichandran. ## Mohanlal’s Reported Exit Changes the Room A star like Mohanlal does not simply “join” a movie. He changes its temperature. Put him in an Ajith Kumar film and the audience starts making its own little movie before the real one arrives. Who gets the first entrance? Who gets the pause before a line? Does the camera sit still and let two faces do the work, or does it run around the room because the room has become too expensive to stand still? That is the practical value of casting. It is art, yes, but it is also payroll, scheduling, dubbing rooms, satellite interest, streaming chatter, and the old business of whether a distributor can make one more phone call with a little more confidence in his voice. MSN’s report puts the reason for Mohanlal’s exit on remuneration. The piece here does not know the number, and it should not pretend to. Salary disagreements can mean many things in the film business: a fee, a share, dates, billing, payment windows, or some quiet mix of all of it. What can be said is simpler. If the report is right, Dare Devil has lost a casting idea that would have carried meaning before a poster even arrived. ![K G Ajith Kumar, Director of Saindhava Books Pvt Ltd at Kerala Niyamasabha Literature Festival, Thiruvananthapuram (56483)](https://pokemon-dive.us-lax-4.linodeobjects.com/cinepixo/posts/2026/08/3ec1d610-d78e-4d53-a902-ad9028d15ecd.webp) *Photo: Athulvis · [CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0) · [source](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:K_G_Ajith_Kumar,_Director_of_Saindhava_Books_Pvt_Ltd_at_Kerala_Niyamasabha_Literature_Festival,_Thiruvananthapuram_(56483).jpg)* ## Ajith Kumar and Adhik Ravichandran Are Back Together Pinkvilla reported that Dare Devil, earlier known as AK64, is Ajith Kumar’s next film with Adhik Ravichandran. The same report said Adhik had already confirmed that his next directorial film would reunite him with Ajith. That matters because their last film together, Good Bad Ugly, is the most recent reference point readers have. Pinkvilla described it as an action drama in which Ajith played a former underworld figure known as Red Dragon. The cast around him included Trisha Krishnan, Arjun Das, Sunil, Prabhu, Prasanna, Karthikeya Dev, Priya Prakash Varrier, Jackie Shroff, and Shine Tom Chacko. Dare Devil is reportedly being aimed differently. Pinkvilla wrote that the new film is expected to be a family entertainer and is said to be meant for a wider audience than Good Bad Ugly. That is a plain sentence with a lot of weight inside it. It asks Ajith to do the thing movie stars are paid to do and rarely get thanked for: keep the faithful happy while opening the door for people who may only go to the theater when the whole family can agree on one ticket. That kind of film needs faces the audience trusts. It needs a villain, ally, elder, rival, or friend who can hold his end of the frame without making the whole machine wobble. Mohanlal would have been that kind of face. Now someone else may have to take that chair. ![Ajith kumar receiving padma bushan award](https://pokemon-dive.us-lax-4.linodeobjects.com/cinepixo/posts/2026/08/5b876849-2800-4966-a4ef-de34facad198.webp) ![Ajith Kumar](https://pokemon-dive.us-lax-4.linodeobjects.com/cinepixo/posts/2026/08/521bd6df-99ba-413d-9e88-f2479f8cf774.webp) *Photos: Venky94 · [CC0](http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en) · [source](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ajith_kumar_receiving_padma_bushan_award.jpg); SALMAN2008 · [CC0](http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en) · [source](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ajith_Kumar_(actor,racer).jpg)* ## Shalini Ajithkumar’s Reported Producer Role Raises the Stakes Pinkvilla reported that, after a change in the production setup, Ajith Kumar’s wife, former actress Shalini Ajithkumar, is said to have taken over as producer through Brave Hearts Productions. The report also made clear that this has not been officially confirmed. That distinction matters. A rumor about money becomes much less tidy when the person said to be backing the film is also part of the star’s family. The public sees a famous surname. The work itself sees invoices, dates, contracts, and the awful little math of making a large film without letting it eat itself. If Shalini is indeed producing, a salary disagreement is not some abstract trade-paper item. It is the kind of decision that lands on a producer’s desk and asks for a yes or a no. Pay the fee and find the money somewhere else. Hold the line and risk losing a performer who might widen the film’s pull. Either choice has a cost, and neither one is improved by outsiders pretending the answer is obvious. ![Ajith Kumar, Indian primatologist and conservationist, at Varagaliar Forest Rest House (4 Feb 2025), Anamalai Tiger Reserve, Tamil Nadu, India](https://pokemon-dive.us-lax-4.linodeobjects.com/cinepixo/posts/2026/08/7f949d9f-6827-4ed8-878c-ec21b2cc78b5.webp) ![Ajith Kumar, Indian primatologist and conservationist, at Varagaliar Forest Rest House (4 Feb 2025), Anamalai Tiger Reserve, Tamil Nadu, India](https://pokemon-dive.us-lax-4.linodeobjects.com/cinepixo/posts/2026/08/f67a214c-a58a-4722-94a1-329668811dba.webp) *Photos: T. R. Shankar Raman · [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) · [source 1](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ajith_Kumar_at_Varagaliar_Forest_Rest_House_IMG_20250204_112550.jpg), [source 2](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ajith_Kumar_at_Varagaliar_Forest_Rest_House_IMG_20250204_112543.jpg)* ## Dare Devil’s September Shoot Window Keeps Moving Pinkvilla reported that Dare Devil was initially expected to begin production in early 2026, but later reports pointed to a revised setup. The same story said the film might go on floors in September, with Ajith Kumar giving 75 days for filming. Again, Pinkvilla noted that this had not been officially confirmed. A 75-day window tells you something about the size of the job. Not everything, but enough. It suggests a film that needs planning, not merely availability. If a key actor exits before that window, casting is not a side errand. It affects costumes, dates, scenes, action blocks, stills, announcements, and the rhythm of a set where hundreds of people need the day to begin on time. The confirmed creative piece is Anirudh Ravichander’s music. Pinkvilla reported that he is composing for Dare Devil, reuniting with Ajith after Vedhalam and Vidaamuyarchi. For many readers, that is not a footnote. A big Ajith film with Anirudh attached already has a pulse in people’s heads before a scene is shot. ## Shankar and Mankatha 2 Wait Behind Dare Devil Pinkvilla, citing Touring Talkies, reported that Ajith Kumar and director Shankar are likely to work together after Dare Devil and a possible Mankatha 2. The report said the budget and script are said to align, while Shankar’s Velpari may be delayed. No official confirmation has been made. This is where hope is allowed, if it is named honestly. The idea of Ajith and Shankar together is easy to like because both men understand scale in different ways. Ajith carries stillness well. Shankar often thinks in size. If such a film happens, the pleasure may come from seeing whether those instincts meet cleanly or push against each other. But Dare Devil comes first. Right now, according to the reporting, it has a title, a director, a music composer, a possible September start, a reported producer change, and one very large casting question where Mohanlal’s name used to sit. ## How this piece was made **Format:** Editorial feature ## In this piece - [Ajith Kumar](https://cinepixo.com/people/ajith-kumar) ## Sources - https://www.msn.com/en-in/news/other/remuneration-row-costs-dare-devil-a-superstar/ar-AA2amxsS - https://www.pinkvilla.com/entertainment/south/ajith-kumar-to-work-with-director-shankar-after-dare-devil-and-mankatha-2-heres-what-we-know-1404810 Every factual claim above is drawn from these. The reading of them is ours. Source: https://cinepixo.com/blog/mohanlal-salary-row-leaves-ajith-kumars-dare-devil-recasting Written for CinePixo. Nothing on this page is imported prose.