From personal revelations to facing his fear, here are key highlights from the episode of Into The Wild with Bear Grylls and Ajay Devgn

By Athulya Nambiar -

October 22, 2021 - 8:13 AM IST

Ajay Devgn is one of the biggest superstars in India and has been entertaining us for three decades now. He has performed some of the meanest stunts on-screen and continues to challenge himself with his work. This time he took the challenge forward and went on a survival adventure with the world-renowned adventurer Bear Grylls. The two went on a survival adventure on an uninhabited island located in the Maldives.

From personal revelations to facing his fear, here are key highlights from the episode of Into The Wild with Bear Grylls and Ajay Devgn

AJAY AND BEAR’S ADVENTUROUS UNION

Without wasting any time, Bear Grylls dives into his adventure mode tagging Ajay Devgn along with him. For this middle of the ocean meet, Bear Grylls arrives in a helicopter while Devgn arrives in a speedboat. While Grylls gets down into the ocean, Devgn too jumps into the ocean. They swim and arrive at a shallow end and meet and greet each other. Grylls informs Devgn about their mission which involves going to an uninhabited island and returning to the mainland.

Before they head to the uninhabited island, Grylls shows Devgn a message from friend and actor Anil Kapoor. “Bear, make Ajay do crazy things and make him go wild. I know you give your 100 percent in everything you do and I know you will ace this experience too. Jaha Bear tujhe le jaa raha hai waha na tera Golmaal chalega, na tera Bol Bachchan, sirf survival (Where Bear is taking you, neither your Golmaal nor your Bol Bachchan will work there, only survival). Lots of strength to you and make this experience an experience of a lifetime. All the best,” Kapoor said in the video for Devgn.

Responding to Anil, Ajay jokingly said, “Anil ji mai toh agaya hoon, agli baari aapki hai lekin umar dekh ke aayega (Anil ji, I have reached, next is your turn but watch your age and come).”

GROWING UP YEARS:

Talking about his growing up years in Mumbai, Devgn told Grylls, “I cannot talk about this on TV because a lot has changed today. A lot of them was just wild and something not great now.” However, Devgn divulged a few details, “I started driving when I was eight.”

Grylls also inquired about the time Devgn spent a night behind bars. “We used to get into a lot of street fights, calling stuff and we were very wild then,” Devgn said agreeing about spending a night behind bars.

AJAY ABOUT HIS KIDS:

A father of two, Ajay proudly talks about his kids- Nysa and Yug’s interests and aspirations. “Yug is into acrobat, parkour, video games, and what kids these days like. My daughter just turned 18 and is going to school in Switzerland. They are very critical about my work.”

When asked if he will encourage his kids to pursue films, he said, “No, I will let them follow their own path. My daughter, I think, is not very keen on it. Let’s see where it takes us. She is studying now and my son is too young to decide what he wants. I am not going to push them into anything.”

AJAY GETS EMOTIONAL TALKING ABOUT HIS FATHER

Ajay spoke about doing stunts and sustaining injuries. “I have a lot of injuries mainly because of stunts in films. When we started stunts in films there were no harnesses. We had to jump from 30-40 feet and land on boxes and most of the time we would break our ankle or something or the other. No crash mats were there on the ground. There was a lot of real stuff we used to do, now it has become a lot easier,” he said.

Further, he spoke about his father, who was also a stunt man and passed away two years back. “My father started as a stunt man and then he became an action coordinator. I was on the set most of the time and I used to try what they would do and he wanted me to try also. That was the start of the training also.”

He also spoke about losing his father, "It is tough losing your parents because in the first 20 years of your life you don't care for them and think they are stupid and that they don't know anything. By the time you have children, you realize what a parent is and sometimes it is too late. He was suffering from Alzheimer's. Because of the stunt, he had to go through glass once and he hit his head. Back then glass break was real glass break. Now you use toughened glass, which can also cause cuts.”

ROHIT SHETTY CHALLENGES AJAY:

Before making their makeshift boat, Grylls displays filmmaker Rohit Shetty’s message for Devgn. “This is not fair, you left me and went for an adventure with Bear. People have seen you perform so many stunts and that too from the time there were no special effects. From entering on a bike to jumping from a building, you won people's hearts with your action. Now is the time to win over the ocean. I have a challenge- Create something with which you and Bear can leave this island but like your films even this should be a blockbuster stunt,” Rohit said.

BEST OUT OF WASTE:

The two set out on the island looking for materials with which they can create stuff that help them survive. They find a plastic can. Bear informs that the island has several wastes which have been thrown in by forces of nature including sea storms and tsunami. Bear and Ajay use the plastic can to turn into a fish trap. They crush crabs found on the island and use dry twigs to convert the can into a fish trap. They strategically place it in the ocean and leave it to do its magic of attracting their food.

The two then come across an abandoned part of a boat. Bear sets out to turn into a sustainable boat with the help of Devgn. From making makeshift axe to wrapping twigs in cloths to make floaters, the two set out on the island to create a boat that would carry the two of them to the middle of the ocean. For water, they refer to rainwater stored in dried coconuts.

KAJOL REVEALS AJAY’S SECRET:

Ajay Devgn and Kajol are married to each other for over two decades. Kajol, in her video message, revealed Ajay’s secret and posed a challenge for him. “Let me start by saying that there are a few secrets that not everybody may know about Ajay. One of them being that he is a fabulous cook. And number two is that he is borderline OCD about touching anything with his fingers. According to him, it's because he just cannot get the smell out of his fingers. Whatever that means! Anyway, so my challenge to him is that he has to be made to touch and eat the smelliest, grossest, slimiest thing that you think of, Bear, and let me see if he lives up to it,” she shared.

Responding to it, Ajay told Bear, “When I eat, I can’t really touch the food, so I use a fork, knife, and spoon. I have a kind of a phobia that my hands will smell of it all day. So it is very difficult for me to use my hands while eating.”

After this, Ajay and Bear check their fish trap which has successfully trapped a red snapper fish. Bear uses a stone to tear it up and encourages to eat a part of the raw fish using his hand.

RESCUE:

Ajay and Bear’s temporary boat is ready to sail. They push it into the ocean and get on it as they get to the deeper end. Ajay reveals that they were in the middle of the ocean for 3-4 hours before they were spotted by the special forces coast guard team who came to their rescue.

The episode is currently streaming on discovery+. It will be premiered on the Discovery Channel on October 25 at 8 pm

ALSO READ: Ajay Devgn starrer Maidaan to release on June 3, 2022