Ajay Devgn upset with Salman Khan over Battle of Saragarhi?

When Akshay Kumar, Karan Johar and Salman Khan announced their upcoming project earlier this month, it wasn't clear what the project was. The film is apparently about the Battle of Saragarhi, in which 21 soldiers of the 36 Sikh Regiment took on an army of over 10,000 Afghans and killed more than 600 of them.

Turns out the joint collaboration is causing indirect heartburn to Ajay Devgn, who has been working on the same subject for his next production. The development has added more fuel to the fire raging between Devgn and Johar, who traded barbs in Diwali 2016 with their projects Ae Dil Hai Mushkil and Shivaay clashing at the box-office.

Devgn is reportedly upset with Khan for co-producing the film with Johar's Dharma Productions, and is said to have sent an emotional message to Khan expressing his displeasure.

DNA quoted a source close to Devgn as saying, "He sent across an emotional message to Salman, the same week as the announcement, through a common friend, saying he hadn’t expected Salman to hurt him like this. He added that it was unfair of him to make a film on the same subject that he and his team had been working on for the last couple of years. He requested Salman not to do the same story if possible."

Johar recently launched his book An Unsuitable Boy in which he has elaborated about ending his friendship with Devgn's wife and old friend Kajol. In the run up to release of Ae Dil Hai Mushkil and Shivaay, Kajol's one-word tweet, lending credibility to controversial reviewer Kamaal R Khan's claim that Johar paid him Rs25 lakh to defame Shivaay, had upset Johar deeply. 

Kajol can never come back to my life: Karan Johar in An Unsuitable Boy

In another twist, Rajkumar Santoshi is also making a film on the Battle of Saragarhi with Randeep Hooda in the lead. 

In a deja vu situation, in 2002, there were three films on the iconic freedom fighter Bhagat Singh — Santoshi's The Legend of Bhagat Singh with Devgn in the lead, Guddu Dhanoa's 23 March 1931 Shaheed starring Bobby Deol and Shaheed-e-Azam with Sonu Sood as Bhagat Singh.

The Battle of Saragarhi has drawn battle lines within the Hindi film industry with Devgn, Khan, Johar and Santoshi as foot soldiers. Let's wait and watch to see the action unfold.