In August, mid-day reported that Ajay Devgn is in talks with three production houses in South India, with his first collaboration of the lot being with Kannada director JP Thuminad (Southside story, Aug 29). But the superstar’s interest in the South market goes well beyond headlining movies. On October 1, he unveiled Devgn CineX — his chain of theatres, earlier known as NY Cinemas — in collaboration with Hyderabad-based Chinta Sasidhar’s Vishwa Samudra Group. It is learnt that over the next few years, Devgn intends to expand the chain across seven cities in South India.  

Devgn first started NY Cinemas in 2019 in Ratlam, before launching more outlets in Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat. A source reveals, “Now with the new identity of Devgn CineX, the plan is to expand it all over India, especially in the southern cities of Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Guntur, and more. In the past few years, Ajay has noticed the rise of Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada movies, and how the footfall in theatres is higher in that market. The company’s strategic focus is to expand across metros, tier-1 cities, and strengthen its footprint in South India. The brand wants to redefine the movie-going experience through state-of-the-art theatres equipped with modern digital technologies, and by offering customer reward programmes.” 

Theatre chains are only a part of Devgn’s larger plan. The actor also wants to expand his VFX company, NY VFXWaala. While it already has a presence in Hyderabad, the superstar wants to take it to other cities. Another significant step is opening VFX training centres. The source elaborates, “In July, Ajay met Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy and expressed his interest in establishing a VFX skill-training centre to create more job opportunities for the youth as well as increase the talent pool in the film industry. He plans to bring in experts for the skill training studio. He wants to promote the media and film industries as part of the Telangana Rising 2047 plan. His VFX company recently tied up with the Swedish studio, Goodbye Kansas Studios, and will use its technologies to upgrade the VFX quality in India.”