Parvathy: ‘It’s obscene the amount that heroes are being paid…’

Quoting herself as an example, she said, “Uyare was a commercial success. Take Off was a raging commercial success. So was Bangalore Days, helmed by Anjali Menon, right? And, then you have Qarib Qarib Singlle in Hindi…When it came to the OTT space, everyone started lapping it up. And, it’s a rom-com about middle-aged people. So, my question is this….I got a movie offer about five years ago. When all my films were back-to-back commercial successes… this producer came and told me, ‘This is a story, this is led by you, your character. Yes, there is a superstar hero who will be coming. But, he’s only there for like 20 days.’ And then, I quoted my price. What I believed I deserved and still do.”

Despite being on the top of her career and churning out commerically successful films, Parvathy was not paid the amount she had expected, and on top of that, the hero who was supposed to be part of the film was promised three times more than her fee.

The actor added, “And, the producer said, ‘Oh, but Parvathy, you know how the market is, right? We need an actor who can perform really well. It’s a female-oriented film. And, it’s written beautifully.’ I don’t think there was any dearth of well-written characters in Malayalam. But, there was no way I was going to be reimbursed for the service I was putting in. And, my number of dates was 62. And, the hero’s was about 20. And he was getting three times more than me. So, I said, ‘Okay, how about you don’t make this film with a woman? Why not save that much?'”

Parvathy questioned why producers aren’t balancing the budget of the film as currently 80 per cent of the money is given to heroes and the rest of it is shared by all the other members of the film including the cinematographer, director, and other departments. “Not just the heroine. But, everybody else is getting breadcrumbs. And, the heroes never bring the price down. No matter how many flops they might be a part of. It’s obscene, the number that they’re being paid. I mean, I believe that in Malayalam. But, coming to the Telugu industry, it’s jaw-dropping at this point. Like, no way, this is dystopian for me. So, I believe there is a certain risk to be taken (for women).”