Kajol says female actors in Bollywood can ask for pay parity after they deliver a film like SRK’s Pathaan: ‘When you make Wonder Woman for India…’

Previously, Priyanka Chopra had spoken about pay parity and said that she was never paid the same amount as her male co-stars in India. She said it was the Prime Video project Citadel where she was finally paid the same money that was being paid to her co-star Richard Madden.

In an earlier interview, Deepika Padukone said that she rejected a film because the makers were not matching her fee because they wanted to make room for the male lead. “There was a recent incident where a director offered us a film that creatively I liked. But then it came to talking about money, and I said that this is what I would charge. Then it kind of went back and forth. He came back and told me that he wouldn’t be able to afford me as he had to accommodate the male (lead). So, then I said ‘tata-goodbye’ as I know my track record. I know my worth. I know that his films haven’t been doing as well as my films have. So, it made absolutely no sense. I was okay to say no to that film based on pay because I thought it was unfair,” she was quoted as saying by indianexpress.com.

Jaya Bachchan, in an earlier chat with her granddaughter Navya Naveli Nanda on her podcast, said that the issue of pay parity rises out of men being insecure. “It’s the insecurity of a man who is sitting at the head of it. He is insecure, which is why he feels it is easier to put a woman down, in every field and in every way. It is an outcome of that kind of mindset,” she said.