S Ve Shekher, veteran actor and former trustee of the South Indian Artistes Association (SIAA), also known as the Nadigar Sangam, has disclosed why film star Ajith did not attend the Natchathira Vizha (Star Night), an event organized by the SIAA in Malaysia to raise funds to build its office in Chennai.
According to Shekher, Ajith skipped the two-day event that was attended by more than 300 Tamil film personalities, including Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan, as he believes the association should build its office with contributions from actors instead of from the public.
S Ve Shekar, who resigned as trustee of the association over the alleged disrespect shown to some senior artistes in Malaysia, told a television channel that when the SIAA office-bearers invited Ajith to the Star Night festival, the actor reportedly said, "Already we make a lot of money from the tickets that are sold in theatres. Let us not take money from them to build the Nadigar Sangam building but build it through just our contributions.”
Ajith was not the only star to skip the two-day event. A number of other stars like Dhanush, Vijay, Arvind Swamy, Simbu, Santhanam and Sibiraj also did not participate.