AK64 stalled over Ajith's fee. Sun Pictures may step in.

AK64 was announced last year and still has not shot a frame. The reason now doing the rounds is the simplest one in the business: money. Ajith Kumar’s fee, according to reports, has run past what the production houses circling the film could carry, and the project has sat parked while a banner big enough to absorb it was found.

That banner is reportedly Sun Pictures. The studio is said to be in talks to back the yet-to-be-titled project, though no contract has been confirmed and Sun has issued nothing official. What makes the name plausible is the balance sheet behind it. Sun Pictures last bankrolled Rajinikanth’s Coolie and is carrying Jailer 2, Lokesh Kanagaraj’s DC and Allu Arjun’s Raaka on its slate. A studio funding that many tentpoles at once is one of the few that can meet an Ajith quote without flinching.

The film reunites Ajith with Adhik Ravichandran after Good Bad Ugly, the 2025 hit that made the pairing bankable. Adhik has already signalled it will not be a repeat. “Good Bad Ugly was made purely for the fans of Ajith sir. But AK64 won’t be like that,” he said. “It will be an action entertainer with a solid screenplay that will also pull in the family audience.”

The delay has been visible for a while. When Ajith turned 55 on May 1, the birthday slot that usually carries his next announcement passed empty. A Sun Pictures deal, if it closes, would explain the wait and end it in the same stroke. For now the film has a director, a star and a number nobody has agreed to pay yet.